Volleyball Preview: Star Valley Braves vs. Thunder Basin Bolts
The Star Valley Braves will be staying on the road on Thursday to face off against the Thunder Basin Bolts at 9:30 p.m. Star Valley will be strutting in after a win while Thunder Basin will be coming in after a defeat.
Star Valley won the last time they faced Jackson Hole and Camryn Mackey did her part to make sure it happened again. Star Valley had just enough and edged Jackson Hole out 3-2 thanks in part to Mackey, who had 15 digs and two aces. She is on a roll when it comes to digs, as she's now had ten or more in the last nine games she's played.
Star Valley was staring down a 2-1 deficit headed into the fourth set, but they rallied to take the next two for the win. Once all was said and done, the final score wound up at 17-25, 25-20, 18-25, 26-24, 15-10.
Star Valley was lethal from the service line and finished the game with 11 aces. The team's really been improving in that area: they've now improved their ace total in three consecutive matches.
Meanwhile, Thunder Basin faced Laramie in a battle between two of the state's top teams on Saturday. Thunder Basin came up short against Laramie, falling 3-0. The Bolts haven't had much luck with the Plainsmen recently, as the team's come up short the last four times they've met.
While Thunder Basin ultimately came up short, they didn't go down without a fight: they scored at least 18 points in every set they played. The match finished with set scores of 25-20, 25-18, 25-19.
Star Valley is on a roll lately: they've won four of their last five matchups, which provided a massive bump to their 17-21 record this season. As for Thunder Basin, they moved to 24-5 with that loss, which also ended their seven-game winning streak.
Here's a few offensive stats to keep an eye on ahead of Thursday's contest: Star Valley has really dialed in their serving this season, having averaged 5.6 aces per game. However, it's not like Thunder Basin struggles in that department as they've been averaging 7.4. Given these competing strengths, it'll be interesting to see how their clash plays out.
Star Valley came up short against Thunder Basin in their previous meeting back in August, falling 2-0. Can Star Valley avenge their defeat or is history doomed to repeat itself? We'll find out soon enough.
Article generated by infoSentience based on data entered on MaxPreps
