Volleyball Preview: Nazareth Area Blue Eagles vs. Liberty Hurricanes
Nazareth Area hasn't had much luck against Liberty recently, but that could start to change on Thursday. The Nazareth Area Blue Eagles will head out to challenge the Liberty Hurricanes at 7:00 p.m.
Nazareth Area will head out to face Liberty after giving up their first home loss of the season on Tuesday. Nazareth Area fell just short of Bethlehem Catholic by a score of 3-2. The Blue Eagles' defeat signaled the end of their four-game winning streak.
Nazareth Area came into the match hot and won the two sets, but they struggled down the stretch and lost the last three. After all that action, the final score was 25-27, 23-25, 27-25, 25-20, 15-9.
Nazareth Area's loss shouldn't obscure the performances of Mallory Garland, who had 14 digs and three aces, and Cassidy Lohenitz, who had eight digs. That's the most aces Garland has posted since back in October of 2023.
Even though they lost, Nazareth Area was lethal from the service line and finished the game with 14 aces. That strong performance was nothing new for the team: they've now served at least nine aces in four consecutive games.
Meanwhile, Liberty got the win against Easton Area on Tuesday by a conclusive 3-0.
Once all was said and done, the final score wound up at 25-22, 25-15, 25-20.
Nazareth Area's defeat dropped their record down to 6-4. As for Liberty, they now have a winning record of 3-2-4.
Here's a few offensive stats to keep an eye on ahead of Thursday's match: Nazareth Area has serving mastered this season, having averaged 9.1 aces per game. However, it's not like Liberty struggles in that department as they've been averaging 6.9. Given these competing strengths, it'll be interesting to see how their clash plays out.
Nazareth Area might still be hurting after the 3-0 loss they got from Liberty in their previous matchup back in October of 2023. Can Nazareth Area 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
