Volleyball Preview: Notus Pirates vs. Riverstone International Otters
The Notus Pirates have the luxury of staying home for another game and will welcome the Riverstone International Otters at 6:00 p.m. on Monday.
Notus lost 3-0 to Wilder on Thursday. The Pirates haven't had much luck with the Wildcats recently, as the team's come up short the last three times they've met.
Notus was not held off the scoreboard, but that almost wasn't the case: they kept the second set very close. The match finished with set scores of 25-14, 27-25, 25-15.
Despite the loss, Notus saw an underclassman step up: Allie Gehris had five kills, five aces, and five aces. Gehris is on a roll when it comes to aces, as she's now served two or more in the last four games she's played.
Even though they lost, Notus was lethal from the service line and finished the game with 11 aces. That strong performance was nothing new for the team: they've now served at least five aces in 17 consecutive matchups dating back to last season.
Meanwhile, Riverstone International had just enough and edged Rimrock out 3-2 on Thursday.
Riverstone International wouldn't go down easily and took Rimrock into a fifth set where they got it done with a two-point win. The final score came out to 25-16, 25-17, 17-25, 20-25, 17-15.
Notus' defeat dropped their record down to 3-7. As for Riverstone International, they are on a roll lately: they've won five of their last six games, which provided a nice bump to their 6-2 record this season.
Here's a few offensive stats to keep an eye on ahead of Monday's match: Notus has really dialed in their serving game this season, having averaged 20.5 aces per game. However, it's not like Riverstone International struggles in that department as they've been averaging 18.5. Given these competing strengths, it'll be interesting to see how their clash plays out.
Notus might still be hurting after the 3-0 loss they got from Riverstone International in their previous matchup back in August of 2023. Thankfully for Notus, Maud Slots (who had 16 aces and six kills) won't be suiting up this time. Will that be enough to change the final result? There's only one way to find out.
Article generated by infoSentience based on data entered on MaxPreps
