Volleyball Preview: Kimball Longhorns vs. Pine Bluffs Hornets
The Kimball Longhorns will head out on the road to square off against the Pine Bluffs Hornets at 7:00 p.m. on Tuesday. Kimball is no doubt hoping to put an end to a seven-game streak of away losses dating back to last season.
Having struggled with 12 losses in a row dating back to last season, Kimball finally turned things around against Creek Valley on Monday. They blew past the Storm 3-0.
One reason for the win was Kimball's dynamic defense, which allowed fewer and fewer points in every set they played. The match finished with set scores of 25-22, 25-21, 25-20.
Kimball was lethal from the service line and finished the game with 23 aces. That's the most aces they've managed all season.
Meanwhile, Pine Bluffs was able to grind out a solid victory over Mitchell on Saturday, taking the game 2-0. The win made it back-to-back victories for the Hornets.
Pine Bluffs was dominant in the second set, but otherwise had just enough against a tough Mitchell squad. Once all was said and done, the final score wound up at 25-17, 25-7.
Pine Bluffs can attribute much of their success to Makenna Thurin, who had seven digs and four aces. The dominant performance gave Thurin a new career-high in aces.
Kimball's win ended a 12-game drought at home dating back to last season and bumped them up to 1-11. As for Pine Bluffs, they are on a roll lately: they've won 11 of their last 12 games, which provided a nice bump to their 16-4 record this season.
Here's a few offensive stats to keep an eye on ahead of Tuesday's match: Kimball has really dialed in their serving game this season, having averaged 5.2 aces per game. However, it's not like Pine Bluffs struggles in that department as they've been averaging 9.2. Given these competing strengths, it'll be interesting to see how their clash plays out.
Kimball suffered a grim 3-0 defeat to Pine Bluffs when the teams last played back in September of 2023. Can Kimball 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
