The 21 previous meetings between the two schools makes Milwaukee School of Engineering easily the most-played opponent for Lakeland since it moved its program to the varsity level in 2014. MSOE has won 15 of the last 16 meetings, including a three-set sweep a year ago 25-17, 25-17, 25-13 in Milwaukee. The Engineers also won the last time the teams played at the Moose & Dona Woltzen Gymnasium, taking a 25-20, 25-23, 25-15 victory Feb. 25, 2023. The Muskies' last win in the series was nearly eight years ago, a four-set victory at home March 21, 2018. Lakeland won the first three meetings ever between the two schools, including a three-set sweep in their first-ever meeting nine years ago on Feb. 21, 2014.

Lakeland last time out: Defeated Illinois Tech 3-2 last night
The Muskies came out on top in an intense match with the Scarlet Hawks, taking a 19-25, 25-23, 25-22, 15-25, 15-13 victory in the completion of a match started on Feb. 17 but suspended with IIT at the time leading 25-19, 18-18. Lakeland was the stronger team most of the way in the match's resumption and finished hitting .297 over the final four sets after just .103 in the first set. Colin Putchinski tallied a season-high 16 kills, Eli Weinrich also hammered home 14 kills and Jordan Davis-Troller added 12 kills, including the winner on the third match point. Chase Anderson also tied his career high with 52 assists. Lakeland has now won three straight Northern Athetics Collegiate matches for the first time since 2022, and with eight wins has already eclipsed its win total from all of last year and has the program's most wins in a season since 2019.

MSOE last time out: Won at Concordia Wisconsin 3-1 Saturday
The Raiders recovered after losing the second set and went on to defeat the Falcons 25-16, 28-30, 25-18, 25-23 in Mequon. MSOE hit .356 for the match with four players posting at least 11 kills, including Callan Harris with 16 kills and Seth Thomas adding 13 kills. Gregory Kubon also totaled 12 kills and Matthew Schultz added 11 kills plus eight blocks. The Raiders won their third straight match and completed a two-day double that also included a five-set win over then-nationally ranked Dominican the night before.

About the Raiders: MSOE entered the AVCA/NCAA Division III Top 20 Coaches Poll a few weeks ago and moved up to 17th this week after the win over Dominican, the Raiders' second win over a ranked team this season. MSOE also swept UC Santz Cruz on Feb. 15, one day after the Banana Slugs won a pair of matches in the Lakeland Valentine's Day Quad. Three of the Raiders' five losses have come against ranked teams, including two of those in five sets. MSOE is playing another tough schedule this year after finishing 14-12 overall last year but 10-2 in the NACC, advancing to the conference tournament final before losing in five sets to top seed Aurora.