Volleyball Game Preview: Santa Maria Saints vs. Pioneer Valley Panthers

Santa Maria hasn't had much luck against Pioneer Valley recently, but that could start to change on Thursday. Santa Maria will face off against Pioneer Valley at 6:00 p.m. The game will give Santa Maria their first taste of in-conference action this season.

Having struggled with nine losses in a row, Santa Maria turned things around against Dunn on Tuesday. They walked away with a 3-1 win over the Earwigs.

Meanwhile, Pioneer Valley made easy work of Lompoc on Tuesday and carried off a 3-0 victory. The matchup marked the Panthers' most dominant win of the season.

Not only was the match a shutout, it was a big one: Pioneer Valley took every set by at least 17 points. The final score came out to 25-8, 25-6, 25-8.

Pioneer Valley has been performing well recently as they've won three of their last four contests. That's provided a massive bump to their 12-16 record this season. A key ingredient in that success has been their performance when it comes to aces: they averaged an imposing 7.25 aces in those games compared to only 2.83 in the others. Santa Maria picked up their first road victory, bumping their record up to 2-16.