The Muskies and Kingsmen have met three times before today, though this will be the first time Lakeland plays host. All three prior meetings were in California, including the last Jan 10, 2010, when Cal Lutheran swept the Muskies in three sets in a tournament hosted by UC Santa Cruz. The Kingsmen also posted a three-set sweep on their homecourt in Thousands Oaks, Calif., on March 9, 2018, while Lakeland's lone win over CLU was a 21-25, 25-19, 25-21, 25-19 victory on the road Jan. 23, 2016 in the Kingsmen's first season as a varsity program.

Lakeland last time out: Lost to #17 UC Santa Cruz 3-0 last Friday
The Muskies are hosting a nationally ranked opponent from California for the second straight match and the second straight Friday. Lakeland had little success a week ago in falling 25-17, 25-16, 25-14 to the Banana Slugs. Santa Cruz hit .414 for the match with 38 kills and just nine errors in kicking off a 4-0 run over two days against Wisconsin schools. The Muskies posted 18 kills to 17 hitting errors and led just once in the match, briefly in the second set. Ben Busalacchi led Lakeland with seven kills, Levi Everts finished with four kills and Chase Anderson added 13 assists plus two kills from the setter spot.

Cal Lutheran last time out: Won at Concordia Wisconsin 3-0 last night
The Kingsmen began a stretch of four matches over four days in Wisconsin wih a 25-19, 25-21, 25-18 win in Mequon last night. Cal Lutheran was in charge in all three sets and hit .478 as a team with 50 kills and just six errors. Michael Stahl (11 kills), Jordan Cooper and Ben Weber (nine kills each) and Borys Horiuk (seven kills) all hit .412 or better) and 14 different players got in the match for the Kingsmen. Cal Lutheran was in action for the first time in nearly two weeks and won in a sweep for just the fourth time this season, with seven of its wins coming in at least four sets including five wins in five-set matches.

About the Kingsmen: Cal Lutheran enters ranked eighth in the AVCA NCAA Division III Top 15 Coaches Poll, and the Kingsmen are the defending NCAA Division III men's volleyball champions, winning their first championship last year in their first-ever appearance in the national tournament. CLU enters with an 11-2 record this season and is on its second tour of the Midwest, having played five matches in the Chicago area last week and going 4-1, with its loss coming to Lakeland's Northern Athletics Collegiate Conference foe Aurora. The Kingsmen have played five nationally ranked teams already this season and have a 4-1 record in those matches.

Lakeland is hosting a defending national champion for the first time and is facing one for the second time and the second time in three years, after taking on 2022 D-III champion Carthage in the 2023 season opener.

Record watch: Ben Busalacchi is closing in on another Muskies record, as the senior enters the match with 130 career service aces, one from tying and two from passing Cam Ekum (2018-22) and his varsity record of 131 aces. Busalacchi already gobbled up the program's career record for kills earlier this season, and he is closing in on becoming the first player in program history with 1,000 career kills, entering tonight with 933 kills.