The Muskies and Stars first met in 2014, the first year for both schools fielding varsity programs. Lakeland won the first three meetings but the Stars have won nine straight and 12 of the last 13, including most recently a three-set sweep at the Moose & Dona Woltzen Gymnasium when Dominican closed out a 25-22, 25-18, 28-26 sweep. Casey Goss led the Stars with 13 kills. The Muskies' last win over the Stars was more than eight years ago, a 25-11, 26-24, 25-21 sweep over a 14th-ranked Stars team at home April 1, 2016.

Lakeland last time out: Lost to Aurora 3-2 Thursday
The Muskies battled to the end but came up just short against one of the top teams in the Northern Athletics Collegiate Conference, falling to the Spartans in five sets, 23-25, 20-25, 25-17, 25-19, 15-10. In another marathon lasting more than two hours, Lakeland won the first two sets and held a lead in the latter stages of the fourth set, but Aurora pulled out the victory to move into a tie for first in the NACC with Dominican. Colin Kenney finished with 11 kills, Ben Busalacchi added 11 kills and 12 digs and Jordan Davis-Troller finished with nine kills plus four blocks. Chase Anderson also posted 39 assists and four blocks and Jakob Donohue paced the effort at the net with five blocks. The match was the Muskies' 10th this season to go five sets, and Lakeland dropped to 5-5 in those matches and saw its four-match winning streak in five-setters ended.

Dominican last time out: Defeated Concordia Chicago 3-0 Wednesday
The Stars handled their River Forest rivals with a 25-16, 25-16, 25-23 victory at home to stay in first in the NACC. Ty Geschke led Dominican with 10 kills and Casey Goss and Jarod Hesse added eight kills each as the Stars hit .289 for the match with 40 kills and just 12 errors. Jason Kougan also finished with 10 blocks (one solo, nine assisted) as Dominican finished with 13 blocks as a team. Dominican won its fifth straight match, including its fourth straight by sweep.

The Stars have spent time in the national rankings this season, as high as 14th for three weeks in January and February. Dominican won two regular season and three NACC Tournament titles in the conference's first six years sponsoring the sport, and last year as the No. 6 seed advanced to the championship match before falling to Benedictine.

Conference tourney hopes: The final day of NACC regular season play sees one spot still up for grabs for the eight-team NACC Tournament. Lakeland enters its finale tied with Edgewood for eighth in the standings at 4-7, with Concordia Chicago one match behind both in ninth at 3-8. The Muskies hold the tiebreaker over Edgewood, so a win over Dominican would lock up the eighth seed in the tourney. If the Muskies lose, though, they will need both Edgewood and Concordia Chicago to lose their matches Saturday, That is still a distinct possibility, as both the Eagles (at Illinois Tech) and Cougars (against Marian) do face stiff tests against teams that will be in the NACC tourney.

Senior Time: Today's match is the final at home this season for the Muskies and the final home match for five seniors. Alessandro Bianchi, Drew Green, Eh Doh Htoo, Jacob Swigert and Alex Zamora all will be honored before the match. Green and Zamora are both five-year members of the team, Htoo has been with the team for four years and Bianchi and Swigert both are in their first season with the team. Two other seniors on the roster are planning to return next season, as both Ben Busalacchi and Colin Kenney have another year of eligibility available due to the COVID-19 waiver granted for the 2020-21 school year.