Though separated by 2,250 miles, Lakeland and the University of California at Santa Cruz have played fairly regularly in the Muskies' eight years as a varsity program. The most recent meeting came last year in Jan. 2020, when Lakeland traveled to UC Santa Cruz for the Slug Slam invite and played four matches, losing to the Banana Slugs in three sets in their final match of the event. The Muskies have hosted UC Santa Cruz before, for a triangular March 10, 2018 played in the Wehr Center Fieldhouse that included a Banana Slugs' 3-1 win, the only time in seven meetings that Lakeland has taken a set. The teams' first-ever meeting came Feb. 21, 2015 in Kenosha in a triangular hosted by Carthage, where UCSC posted a 3-0 sweep.

Lakeland last time out: Lost at Aurora 3-0 Tuesday

The Muskies were competitive in all three sets but fell to the Spartans 25-22, 25-21, 25-20 in the road in a Northern Athletics Collegiate Conference match. Freshman Tim Matijevic had his best match so far as a Muskie with season highs of nine kills and 11 digs, marks that also led Lakeland in the match. The teams combined for 23 ties and 11 lead changes in the match, but Aurora came through late in all three sets so send the Fish to their fifth straight defeat. Matt Misheck also added seven kills, Cam Ekum finished with 20 assists and Ben Busalacchi added five kills and three aces.

About UC Santa Cruz: The Muskies' guests today come from California and are getting off to a belated start to their season. The Banana Slugs have been a frequent power in NCAA Division III and were national runners up in 2019 and previously in 2006 and 2010. UC Santa Cruz held a 14-11 record last year before the remainder of its season was canceled due to the coronavirus. Head coach Paul Leon is in his sixth year coaching the Slugs and owns a 93-50 career record, and his teams have frequently appeared in the Division III top 15 national rankings.

Midwest tour: UC Santa Cruz is playing the first match of a 10-match barnstorming swing through the Midwest over the next 10 days, a stretch that includes a second match today as the Banana Slugs will pack up after this match and head down to Milwaukee to face Wisconsin Lutheran tonight at 7 p.m. UC Santa Cruz has been sidelined so far this season due to the COVID-19 pandemic, but with the 10 matches will get in enough contests to be eligible for selection to the NCAA Division III Tournament. Though the distance is long, the travel to play other Division III schools halfway across the country or further is not uncommon, as Santa Cruz is one of just two Division III programs in California along with Cal Lutheran University.

Busalacchi tough on serve: Lakeland's Ben Busalacchi has been one of the top servers in the NACC this season as a freshman, and perhaps the best one. Busalacchi enters the day with 25 aces, a number that ranks second in the conference, and his 0.73 aces per set is the best mark in the NACC. Among other Muskies in the conference rankings, Maui Viola ranks eighth in the NACC with 1.83 digs per set, and Cam Ekum is ninth in the conference with 156 assists.