The series between Lakeland and Benedictine dates back more than 40 years, to the teams' first meeting in 1982 in a tourney hosted by the Eagles. Benedictine won both sets in a one-day round-robin among five teams; since then, the teams exchanged streaks until alternating wins the last three years. The Eagles have won two of the last three, including a four-set win at home in Lisle, Ill., just over a year ago on Sept. 14, 2023, a close match throughout the ended with a BenU 25-22, 25-23, 22-25, 25-22 victory. The Muskies' last win in the series came two years ago with a four-set win at home Oct. 15, 2022-another close match ending 20-25, 25-23, 25-23, 25-19-and Benedictine won the teams' previous meeting the year before. Before that, Lakeland had winning streaks of eight and seven matches over Benedictine, and the Eagles won six straight to begin the series and then five straight from 2010-13.

Lakeland last time out: Lost at Elmhurst (Ill.) 3-1 Friday
The Muskies finished at a big disadvantage statistically but scratched out a win in one set before falling to the Bluejays 25-17, 25-13, 22-25, 25-15 on the road. Elmhurst out hit Lakeland .439 to .071, including its top three hitters combining to attack at a .586 clip. Susana Stevens led the Muskies with 10 kills and finished the night one kill shy of 900 for her career. Caitlyn Pernsteiner added six kills, Sydney Gay finished with 14 assists and Katelyn Kitsembel added three service aces.

Benedictine last time out: Defeated Lake Forest (Ill.) 3-1; Lost to Elmhurst (Ill.) 3-1 Saturday
The Eagles split two matches in a home triangular Saturday, first defeating Lake Forest 25-8, 25-11, 23-25, 25-13. Benedictine then faced Elmhurst one day after Lakeland had faced the Bluejays, and the Eagles were defeated 25-23, 25-19, 21-25, 25-23. Olivia McPherson led Benedictine with 17 kills against the Bluejays and twin sister Kiara McPherson finished with 36 assists. Courtney Levy added 18 digs.

Benedictine finished 11-16 overall last year and posted a 7-6 record in the Northern Athletics Collegiate Conference. Despite their head-to-head win, the Eagles finished two matches behind Lakeland and tied for sixth in the conference standings. Much like the Muskies, Benedictine has regularly been a contender in the top half of the conference, posting winning records in the NACC in the last five full seasons, not counting the COVID-19 shortened 2020-21 season.

New chemistry developing: Lakeland entered this season with a lot of production to replace after losing from last year's team 56% of kills, including the team's second, third, fourth and fifth-highest in kills after leader Susana Stevens. The Muskies also lost 68.6% of the team's digs and 66.6% of their assists, and this year the team has a first-year starter at libero (sophomore Ryan Figi) plus a freshman (Sydney Gay) and first-year regular (junior Kaitlyn Ramirez) among its setters.

Milestone watch:
-Susana Stevens is one kill shy of 900 for her career, and 101 kills from becoming the ninth in program history to reach 1,000 career kills. Stevens enters Tuesday with 899 career kills, 12th on the Muskies' all-time list and 12 kills from tying Katie Freitag (2010-13) for 11th all-time.
-Roseily Carrasquillo has 768 career assists, 14th on Lakeland's career list. She is 155 assists from tying Madison Schweitzer's 923 assists for 13th on the Muskies' all-time list.