Volleyball Game Preview: Mathews Mustangs vs. Heartland Christian Lions

After both having extra time off, the Mathews Mustangs and the Heartland Christian Lions will shake off the rust and duke it out at 7:00 p.m. on Thursday. The two teams are sauntering into the matchup backed by comfortable wins in their prior games.

Heartland Christian will be up against a hot Mathews squad: the team just extended their winning streak to three. The Mustangs were the clear victors by a 3-0 margin over McKinley on Wednesday.

While Mathews might've won, it sure wasn't easy: McKinley scored at least 19 points in every set they played. The final score came out to 25-22, 25-19, 25-23.

Meanwhile, there's no place like home for Heartland Christian, who bounced back after a loss on the road on Tuesday. Everything went their way against Wood County Christian on Thursday as they made off with a 3-0 victory.

Heartland Christian not only won, but also showed off some consistency: they kept Wood County Christian between 16 and 19 points across their sets. Once all was said and done, the final score wound up at 25-19, 25-16, 25-16.

Heartland Christian's win bumped their record up to 13-9. As for Mathews, their victory bumped their record up to 10-12.

Here's a few offensive stats to keep an eye on ahead of Thursday's contest: Mathews hasn't let much over the net this season, having averaged 4.1 blocks per game. It's a different story for Heartland Christian, though, as they've been averaging only 1.3 blocks. Given Mathews' sizable advantage in that area, the Lions will need to find a way to close that gap. Come back here after the game to get an analysis of the match and other volleyball content.