The Russell Broncos will square off against the Oakley Plainsmen at 9:00 a.m. on Saturday. Russell has a tough task ahead: they'll enter the contest with six straight defeats, while Oakley will come in with three straight victories.
Last Thursday, Russell didn't have quite enough to beat Minneapolis and fell 2-1. While the Broncos didn't get the win, they did start the game off strong, beating the Lions 25-20 in the first set.
Russell started the match hot and won the first set, but they struggled down the stretch and lost the last two. The match finished with set scores of 20-25, 25-19, 25-20.
Despite the loss, Russell saw an underclassman step up: Madeleine Middleton had five digs and ten assists. Those ten assists set a new season-high mark for Middleton.
Meanwhile, Oakley hadn't done well against Smith Center recently (they were 1-8 in their previous nine matchups), but they didn't let the past get in their way on Thursday. Oakley came out on top against Smith Center by a score of 2-0.
While Oakley won a shutout, things came down to the wire in the second set they played. The final score came out to 25-20, 25-23.
Russell's defeat dropped their record down to 13-15. As for Oakley, their win was their third straight on the road, which pushed their record up to 22-6-1.
Russell came up short against Oakley in their previous meeting last Tuesday, falling 2-0. Can Russell avenge their loss or is history doomed to repeat itself? We'll find out soon enough.
Article generated by infoSentience based on data entered on MaxPreps
