The series between the Muskies and Spartans has been a competitive one since the teams' first meeting in 2001. Lakeland won the first two meetings and eight of the first ten before Aurora won seven of the next ten matchups, including four in a row from 2016-18. The Muskies won the most recent meeting, though, topping the Spartans in four sets here at the Moose & Dona Woltzen Gymnasium Oct. 5, 2019, snapping Aurora's 17-match Northern Athletics Collegiate Conference winning streak. The Spartans' last win in the series came in four sets in the Northern Athletics Collegiate Conference Tournament semifinals Nov. 1, 2018, their second win over Lakeland that season.

Lakeland last time out: Lost to Concordia Wisconsin 3-1 Tuesday
The Muskies struggled in three of four sets against the talented and experienced Falcons, who have spent time in the national NCAA Division III top 25 rankings this year and prevailed 25-11, 25-11, 15-25, 25-13. Lakeland did surge briefly in the third set, coming out strong and notching 10 kills to just five errors, but the Muskies struggled on the attack the rest of the match and hit .018 for the night with 27 kills and 25 errors. Sydney Pingitore paced Lakeland from the back row with 19 digs, Hailey DeGrave led the attack with six kills and Emily Duchow added eight digs plus seven assists.

Aurora last time out: Defeated Rockford 3-0 Tuesday
The Spartans cruised past the Regents in a 25-16, 25-12, 25-16 win to stay atop the NACC standings at 5-0. Aurora hit a robust .361 for the match with 45 kills and just 10 errors, led by Kate Poellmann with nine kills and Sydney Avery adding eight kills. Kaitlyn Beebe added 25 assists and Dani Lauer finished with 14 digs. Aurora trailed only briefly in the first set and never trailed in the final two sets to win its sixth straight match.

About the Spartans: Aurora has been one of the powers of the NACC in recent years, including three straight regular season championships plus a trip to the Division III national quarterfinals in 2018. The Spartans have played a schedule ranked only slightly lighter than Lakeland's this year, including six matches against nationally ranked teams. Aurora has won two of those matches and has also knocked off three more teams that were receiving votes at the time.

Moving on up: Sydney Pingitore has entered Lakeland's all-time top 20 list for career digs this season, most recently passing former teammate Neenah Primas for 17th on the list. Pingitore enters Friday with 924 career digs, putting her 36 behind 16th-place Tracy Olig (1995-98) and 76 from becoming the 15th player in program history with 1,000 career digs.