Volleyball Preview: Pelham Panthers vs. Saraland Spartans
Pelham is 9-1 against Saraland since October of 2014, and they'll have a chance to extend that success on Wednesday. The Pelham Panthers will challenge the Saraland Spartans at 9:00 a.m.
Pelham is coming in fresh off a high-stakes matchup with another one of Alabama's top teams: Chelsea, who was ranked 14th in their home state at the time (Pelham was ranked 13th). Pelham fell just short of Chelsea by a score of 3-2 on Thursday. While the Panthers didn't get the win, they did start the game off strong, beating the Hornets 25-16 in the first set.
Pelham started the match hot and won the first two sets, but they struggled down the stretch and lost the last three. The match finished with set scores of 16-25, 15-25, 25-20, 25-13, 16-14.
Even though they lost, Pelham was lethal from the service line and finished the game with 14 aces. That's the most aces they've posted since back in August.
Meanwhile, with a playoff game on the line, Saraland rose to the challenge on Thursday. They blew past the Bobcats 3-0. The win made it back-to-back victories for the Spartans.
Not only was the match a shutout, it was a big one: Saraland took every set by at least 14 points. The match finished with set scores of 25-7, 25-9, 25-11.
Brooke Kaoui was the offensive standout of the game as she had seven aces and five digs. That's the most aces she has posted since back in September of 2023.
Pelham's defeat ended a nine-game streak of wins at home and dropped them to 32-13. As for Saraland, they are on a roll lately: they've won 28 of their last 32 matchups, which provided a nice bump to their 37-6 record this season.
Pelham came up short against Saraland in their previous matchup two weeks ago, falling 2-0. Can Pelham avenge their loss or is history doomed to repeat itself? We'll find out soon enough.
Article generated by infoSentience based on data entered on MaxPreps
