Volleyball Preview: Notre Dame Prep Saints vs. Desert Mountain Wolves
Notre Dame Prep is 10-0 against Desert Mountain since October of 2018, and they'll have a chance to extend that success on Thursday. The Notre Dame Prep Saints will be playing in front of their home fans against the Desert Mountain Wolves at 6:00 p.m. Notre Dame Prep will be looking to keep their three-game home win streak alive.
Notre Dame Prep is coming in fresh off a high-stakes matchup with another one of Arizona's top teams: Horizon, who was ranked third in their home state at the time (Notre Dame Prep was ranked 14th). Notre Dame Prep came up short against Horizon last Wednesday, falling 3-0. The Saints' loss signaled the end of their six-game winning streak.
While Notre Dame Prep was kept off the board, it wasn't for a lack of trying: they cut into Horizon's winning margin in every set. The match finished with set scores of 25-19, 25-22, 27-25.
Notre Dame Prep's defeat came about despite a quality game from Lauren Watson, who had 14 digs.
Meanwhile, it can be hard to translate regular season success to the playoffs, but Desert Mountain had no problem doing just that on Tuesday. They walked away with a 3-1 win over the Chargers. The victory was familiar territory for the Wolves who have now won five matchups in a row.
The final score came out to 25-16, 25-9, 23-25, 25-13.
Desert Mountain's success was the result of a balanced attack that saw several players step up, but Kara Hairston led the charge by getting 16 digs and three aces. Hairston is on a roll when it comes to digs, as she's now had 11 or more in the last six games she's played. The team also got some help courtesy of Ayana Conklin, who had 11 digs and 25 assists.
Desert Mountain was lethal from the service line and finished the game with 14 aces. That's the most aces they've posted since back in September.
The win got Desert Mountain back to even at 18-18. As for Notre Dame Prep, their loss ended a three-game streak of away wins and brought them to 24-9.
Notre Dame Prep beat Desert Mountain 3-1 in their previous matchup back in October. One of the biggest obstacles the team faced in that game was Desert Mountain's Mia Archibald, who had 21 digs and three aces. Now that she's got a second chance to win this matchup, will Notre Dame Prep still be able to contain Archibald? There's only one way to find out.
Article generated by infoSentience based on data entered on MaxPreps
