Volleyball Preview: Southwest Trojans vs. Galena Bears
Southwest hasn't had much luck against Galena recently, but that could start to change on Thursday. The Southwest Trojans will face off against the Galena Bears at 6:00 p.m.
Southwest is headed into Thursday's matchup looking for a big change in momentum after dropping their sixth straight game on Monday. They took a 3-1 hit to the loss column at the hands of Hurley.
The match finished with set scores of 25-12, 25-22, 23-25, 25-23.
Despite the loss, Southwest saw an underclassman step up: Olivia Hnem had 13 digs and two aces. Hnem is on a roll when it comes to digs, as she's now had 13 or more in the last four games she's played dating back to last season.
Even though they lost, Southwest was lethal from the service line and finished the game with 11 aces. That's the most aces they've posted in their last 19 games.
Meanwhile, Galena waltzed into their match on Tuesday with two straight wins... but they left with three. They blew past the Tigers 3-0.
While Galena might've won, it sure wasn't easy: Hurley scored at least 16 points in every set they played. Once all was said and done, the final score wound up at 25-8, 25-15, 25-16.
Southwest's defeat dropped their record down to 6-23-2. As for Galena, they are on a roll lately: they've won 21 of their last 24 contests, which provided a nice bump to their 28-8 record this season.
Here's a few offensive stats to keep an eye on ahead of Thursday's matchup: Southwest has really dialed in their serving this season, having averaged 6.1 aces per game. However, it's not like Galena struggles in that department as they've been averaging 9.6. Given these competing strengths, it'll be interesting to see how their clash plays out.
Southwest came up short against Galena when the teams last played back in September, falling 2-0. A big factor in that loss was the dominant performance of Galena's Averi Foster, who had 11 digs and two aces. Now that Southwest knows the damage she can cause, will they be able to stop her this time? Check MaxPreps.com after the match to find out.
Article generated by infoSentience based on data entered on MaxPreps
