Volleyball Game Preview: Prentice Buccaneers vs. Rib Lake Redmen

Prentice has gone 8-2 against Rib Lake recently and they'll look to pad the win column further on Thursday. The Buccaneers will square off against the Redmen. The two teams are sauntering into the matchup backed by comfortable wins in their prior games.

Prentice is on a roll after a high-stakes playoff matchup on Saturday. They put the hurt on Mellen with a sharp 3-0 win. The victory continues a trend for the Buccaneers in their matchups with the Granite Diggers: they've now won seven in a row.

Prentice relied on the efforts of Sofie Staroba, who had 21 assists and six digs, and Piper Heikkinen, who had 13 digs and three assists. Staroba is on a roll when it comes to assists, as she's now posted 13 or more in each of the last ten games she's played.

Meanwhile, Rib Lake made easy work of Winter on Saturday and carried off a 3-0 win.

Rib Lake had a senior duo take command as Tahlia Scheithauer had 17 digs and Avery Niemi had seven digs and two aces.

Prentice's victory bumped their record up to 22-11. As for Rib Lake, their win bumped their record up to 29-8.

Here's a few offensive stats to keep an eye on ahead of Thursday's matchup: Prentice has really dialed in their serving this season, having averaged 7.4 aces per game. However, it's not like Rib Lake struggles in that department as they've been averaging 5.6 aces. Given these competing strengths, it'll be interesting to see how their clash plays out.

Prentice suffered a grim 3-0 defeat to Rib Lake in their previous meeting back in September. Can the Buccaneers avenge their defeat or is history doomed to repeat itself? We'll find out soon enough.