Volleyball Game Preview: Grayslake Central Rams vs. Lake Zurich Bears

Grayslake Central is on a five-game streak of home wins, while Lake Zurich is on a four-game streak of away wins: one of those streaks is about to end. The Rams will host the Bears at 6:00 p.m. on Tuesday. The two teams each escaped (but just barely!) with wins against their previous opponents.

The home team had won the previous four meetings between Grayslake Central and Buffalo Grove, and Grayslake Central kept the tradition alive. The Rams sure made it a nail-biter, but they managed to escape with a 2-1 win over the Bison on Friday. The victory continues a trend for the Rams in their matchups with the Bison: they've now won three in a row.

Grayslake Central had a slow start but a hot finish: after dropping the first set, they turned around to win the next two. Once all was said and done, the final score wound up at 17-25, 25-19, 25-15.

Meanwhile, Lake Zurich faced New Trier in a battle between two of the state's top teams on Monday. The Bears came out on top in a nail-biter against the Trevians, sneaking past 2-1.

Lake Zurich had a slow start but a hot finish: after dropping the first set, they turned around to win the next two. The match finished with set scores of 21-25, 25-15, 25-23.

Grayslake Central better focus on containing Yani Oblakov and Nikola Stanojevic as the pair were huge in Lake Zurich's win. Oblakov had 18 assists, while Stanojevic had 11 digs. That's the most digs Stanojevic has posted over his last 12 matchups.

Grayslake Central's win bumped their record up to 26-5. As for Lake Zurich, they have been performing incredibly well recently as they've won 19 of their last 20 games. That's provided a nice bump to their 30-3 record this season.