Volleyball Preview: Independence Blue Devils vs. Oberlin The Phoenix
The Independence Blue Devils will stay at home for another game and welcome the Oberlin The Phoenix at 5:00 p.m. on Wednesday. The two teams are sauntering into the matchup backed by comfortable wins in their prior games.
Independence is on a roll after a high-stakes playoff matchup on Saturday. They were the clear victor by a 3-0 margin over Mapleton.
The 3-0 score doesn't show just how dominant Independence was: they took every set by at least 13 points. Once all was said and done, the final score wound up at 25-11, 25-8, 25-12.
Independence's win was the result of several impressive offensive performances. One of the most notable came from Alberta Moreal, who had four digs and four aces. Moreal is also on a roll when it comes to assists, as she's now posted 13 or more in the last three games she's played. Another player making a difference was Sofia Pichert, who had seven digs and two aces.
She wasn't the only good server: Independence was lethal from the service line and finished the game with 13 aces. That strong performance was nothing new for the team: they've now served at least seven aces in three consecutive contests.
Meanwhile, everything went Oberlin's way against East Canton on Saturday as Oberlin made off with a 3-0 victory.
The final score came out to 25-12, 25-13, 25-18.
Natalie Tackett had a dynamite game for Oberlin, getting 11 kills, ten digs, and eight aces. The dominant performance gave Tackett a new career-high in aces. The team also got some help courtesy of Joanna Tatum, who had eight digs, five kills, and three aces.
Independence pushed their record up to 20-3 with the win, which was their 17th straight at home dating back to last season. As for Oberlin, their victory ended a four-game drought at home and bumped them up to 7-15.
Here's a few offensive stats to keep an eye on ahead of Wednesday's matchup: Independence has really dialed in their serving this season, having averaged 12.4 aces per game. However, it's not like Oberlin struggles in that department as they've been averaging 10.6. Given these competing strengths, it'll be interesting to see how their clash plays out.
Everything went Independence's way against Oberlin in their previous matchup back in October of 2018, as Independence made off with a 3-0 win. Will Independence repeat their success, or does Oberlin have a new game plan this time around? We'll find out soon enough.
Article generated by infoSentience based on data entered on MaxPreps
