Volleyball Preview: Mentor Cardinals vs. St. Joseph Academy Jaguars
Mentor has enjoyed the comforts of home their last three games, but now they'll head out on the road. After both having extra time off, they and the St. Joseph Academy Jaguars will shake off the cobwebs and square off against one another at 7:00 p.m. on Thursday.
Mentor is on a roll after a high-stakes playoff matchup on Thursday. They had just enough and edged Strongsville out 3-2.
It was an exciting match in which no team won back-to-back sets, but at the end of the day Mentor got the one that really mattered. The final score came out to 25-15, 21-25, 25-20, 20-25, 15-13.
Mentor's success was the result of a balanced attack that saw several players step up, but Abby Ferritto led the charge by getting seven digs and 21 assists. The team also got some help courtesy of Riley Hoynes, who had 16 digs.
Meanwhile, St. Joseph Academy waltzed into their contest on Thursday with five straight wins... but they left with six. They blew past the Bulldogs 3-0.
The win didn't come easy: Stow-Munroe Falls scored at least 16 points in every set. The match finished with set scores of 25-14, 25-16, 25-15.
Mentor's victory was their eighth straight at home, which pushed their record up to 18-6. As for St. Joseph Academy, they have been performing well recently as they've won 11 of their last 14 matchups, which provided a nice bump to their 16-8 record this season.
Here's a few offensive stats to keep an eye on ahead of Thursday's game: Mentor has really dialed in their serving this season, having averaged 11.8 aces per game. However, it's not like St. Joseph Academy struggles in that department as they've been averaging 8.3. Given these competing strengths, it'll be interesting to see how their clash plays out.
Mentor suffered a grim 3-0 defeat to St. Joseph Academy in their previous matchup back in November of 2023. Can Mentor 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
