Volleyball Preview: Lathrop Malemutes vs. North Pole Patriots
After nine games on the road, Lathrop is heading back home. They will welcome the North Pole Patriots at 4:30 p.m. on Friday. Given that both suffered a loss in their last game, they both have a little extra motivation heading into this matchup.
Lathrop is coming in fresh off a high-stakes matchup with another one of Alaska's top teams: Palmer, who was ranked 14th in their home state at the time (Lathrop was ranked 11th). Lathrop took a 2-0 hit to the loss column at the hands of Palmer on Saturday.
Lathrop was held off the scoreboard, but that almost wasn't the case: they kept the second set very close. Once all was said and done, the final score wound up at 25-18, 25-22.
Meanwhile, North Pole was not able to break out of their rough patch on Wednesday as the team picked up their seventh straight defeat. They lost 3-0 to West Valley. For those keeping track at home, that's the biggest loss the Patriots have suffered since October 24th.
The match finished with set scores of 25-21, 25-13, 25-19.
Lathrop has been struggling recently as they've lost three of their last four matches, which put a noticeable dent in their 36-9-2 record this season. As for North Pole, their record is now 9-21-3.
Everything went Lathrop's way against North Pole in their previous meeting back in October, as Lathrop made off with a 3-0 victory. Will Lathrop repeat their success, or does North Pole have a new game plan this time around? We'll find out soon enough.
Article generated by infoSentience based on data entered on MaxPreps
