Volleyball Game Preview: Oak Forest Bengals vs. Shepard Astros

The Oak Forest Bengals will venture away from home to face off against the Shepard Astros at 5:30 p.m. on Thursday. Both come into the game bolstered by wins in their previous matches.

Oak Forest will bounce into Thursday's match after beating Lemont, who they had gone 0-4 against in their four prior meetings. The Bengals came out on top against the Lemont HS by a score of 2-0 on Monday.

Oak Forest didn't let Lemont take a single set, but it sure wasn't easy: every set was decided by three points or less. The match finished with set scores of 25-22, 25-22.

Oak Forest found their leader in sophomore Caleb Perez, who had ten digs and two assists. Lennon Flores also deserves some recognition as he had his first kill of the season.

Oak Lawn typically has all the answers at home, but on Tuesday Shepard proved too difficult a challenge. They walked away with a 2-0 win over the Spartans.

Shepard easily took the second set, but they let things get interesting in the other. The final score came out to 25-20, 25-14.

The victory got Oak Forest back to even at 15-15. As for Shepard, their win was their fourth straight on the road, which pushed their record up to 18-14.

Oak Forest came out on top in a nail-biter against Shepard in their previous meeting back in May of 2024, sneaking past 2-1. The rematch might be a little tougher for the Bengals since the team won't have the home-court advantage this time around. We'll see if the change in venue makes a difference.