The Eads Eagles will head out on the road to challenge the Prairie Mustangs at 3:00 p.m. on Saturday. The two teams are sauntering into the matchup backed by comfortable wins in their prior games.
Eads took a loss when they played away from home last Friday, but their home fans gave them all the motivation they needed on Friday. They were the clear victors by a 3-0 margin over Cheyenne Wells. Give some credit to the fans of both teams: the last six times they've met, the home team has come away the winner.
Eads was especially dominant in the second set. The final score came out to 25-20, 25-15, 25-18.
Meanwhile, Prairie hadn't done well against Weldon Valley recently (they were 2-7 in their previous nine matchups), but they didn't let the past get in their way on Friday. The Mustangs put the hurt on the Warriors with a sharp 3-0 win. The victory was nothing new for the Mustangs as they're now sitting on four straight.
Prairie walked away with the win (and looked especially good in the third set). The match finished with set scores of 25-18, 25-18, 25-11.
Eads better focus on containing Nicole Ludgate and Hanna Kugler as the pair were huge in Prairie's win. Ludgate had six digs and four aces, while Kugler had 12 digs, eight kills, and two aces. That's the most aces Ludgate has posted since back in September. Alice Marler also deserves some recognition as she had her first kill of the season.
Prairie was lethal from the service line and finished the match with 15 aces. That strong performance was nothing new for the team: they've now served at least six aces every time they've taken the court this season.
Prairie's victory bumped their record up to 12-2. As for Eads, their win was their first in the league, bumping their league record up to 1-2 and their overall record up to 10-3.
Here's a few offensive stats to keep an eye on ahead of Saturday's match: Eads has really dialed in their serving this season, having averaged 8 aces per game. However, it's not like Prairie struggles in that department as they've been averaging 13.6 aces. Given these competing strengths, it'll be interesting to see how their clash plays out.
Eads came out on top in a nail-biter against Prairie in their previous meeting back in October of 2024, sneaking past 3-2. The rematch might be a little tougher for the Eagles since the squad won't have the home-court advantage this time around. We'll see if the change in venue makes a difference.
