The series between the Muskies and Scarlet Hawks has seen a pair of runs, first by Lakeland in winning four straight but now followed by Illinois Institute of Technology winning the last four matchups. Illinois Tech won the last meeting just under a year ago on Feb. 23, 2025 at the Moose & Doan Woltzen Gymnasium, prevailing 25-20, 24-26, 25-23, 25-20 despite 14 kills from Sage Xiong. It has now been a while since the Muskies defeated IIT, as the teams went without playing for three years during the COVID-19 pandemic. Lakeland's last win over Illinois Tech was a 25-20, 25-15, 25-21 sweeep April 6, 2019. The Muskies won the teams' first-ever meeting with a three-set sweep at home Jan. 15, 2016 in what was also the Scarlet Hawks' first match as a varsity program.

Lakeland last time out: Lost to Wittenberg (Ohio) 3-2; Lost to #7 UC Santa Cruz 3-0 Saturday
The Muskies faced a pair of strong teams at their home quadrangular on Valentine's Day, one ranked high in the AVCA/NCAA Division III Top 20 Coaches Poll and another the first team out of the poll last week. Lakeland rallied from a 2-0 deficit to get to a deciding fifth set against Wittenberg before falling 25-15, 25-17, 19-25, 23-25, 16-14, then was swept by the Banana Slugs of UC Santa Cruz 25-12, 25-14, 27-25. Chase Anderson posted 28 assists and five blocks in the opener, Luke Schultz totaled 13 digs and Griffin Lemberger came off the bench for three kills and five blocks as the Muskies nearly upended the Tigers in the first match. Connor Lewis posted a career-best nine kills in the second match, where Lakeland made a run in the third set before coming up just short.

Illinois Tech last time out: Defeated Bridgewater (Va.) 3-1; Lost to #5 Southern Virginia 3-0; Lost at Wittenberg 3-0 Feb. 7
The Scarlet Hawks have been idle for more than a week, since competing in a two-day event hosted by Wittenberg. As part of finishing 1-3 in the tourney, IIT played three times on its final day and first topped Bridgewater 25-17, 19-25, 25-19, 25-16, then fell to defending Division III national champions Southern Virginia in three sets 25-18, 25-19, 25-20 and was defeated by the host school Wittenberg 25-19, 25-19, 25-21. Tyson Haufschild paced Tech with 11 kills and three service aces aaginst Bridgewater, and Maximo Dowling finished with eight kills and a .467 hitting percentage against Southern Virginia and then posted 13 kills plus 10 digs against Wittenberg.

About the Scarlet Hawks: IIT also was defeated by No. 13 Loras (Iowa) on Friday of the tourney, and a difficult early season schedule has included five losses to teams nationally ranked at the time of playing. Illinois Tech is playing its Northern Athletics Collegiate Conference opener this season, and the Scarlet Hawks finished 11-17 overall last year and posted a 6-6 record in the NACC, finishing in a four-way tie for fifth and qualifying for the NACC Tournament.