The North Providence Cougars will head out on the road to face off against the Achievement First Providence Falcons at 6:00 p.m. on Monday. Both come into the matchup bolstered by wins in their previous matches.
North Providence is coming in fresh off a high-stakes matchup with another one of Rhode Island's top teams: St. Raphael Academy, who was ranked 24th at the time (North Providence was ranked 23rd). The Cougars came out on top against the Saints by a score of 3-1 on Thursday.
While North Providence might've won, it sure wasn't easy: St. Raphael Academy scored at least 23 points in every set they played. The final score came out to 25-23, 25-23, 19-25, 26-24.
Among those leading the charge was Toprak Kalakci, who had 13 digs and one block.
Achievement First Providence won the last time they faced Exeter-West Greenwich, and AJ Kue did his part to make sure it happened again. The Falcons were the clear victors by a 3-0 margin over the Scarlet Knights on Friday thanks in part to Kue, who had five kills and three digs. He is also on a roll when it comes to assists, as he's now posted 18 or more in each of the last three games he's played.
The win didn't come easy: Exeter-West Greenwich scored at least 19 points in every set. The match finished with set scores of 25-21, 25-19, 25-20.
North Providence's victory ended a three-game drought at home and bumped them up to 2-4. As for Achievement First Providence, the win made it two in a row for them and bumps their season record up to 7-3.
Here's a few offensive stats to keep an eye on ahead of Monday's game: North Providence has really dialed in their serving this season, having averaged 4.5 aces per game. However, it's not like Achievement First Providence struggles in that department as they've been averaging 11.5 aces. Given these competing strengths, it'll be interesting to see how their clash plays out.
North Providence couldn't quite get it done against Achievement First Providence in their previous matchup on April 4th as they fell 3-1. Can the Cougars avenge their loss or is history doomed to repeat itself? We'll find out soon enough.
