Volleyball Preview: Horizon Huskies vs. Xavier College Prep Gators
Horizon hasn't had much luck against Xavier College Prep recently, but that could start to change on Friday. The Horizon Huskies will take on the Xavier College Prep Gators at 11:00 a.m. Both teams are coming into the match red-hot, with Horizon sitting on five straight wins and Xavier College Prep on six.
Horizon is coming in fresh off a high-stakes matchup with another one of Arizona's top teams: Chaparral, who was ranked ninth in their home state at the time (Horizon was ranked 17th). Horizon walked away with a 3-1 victory over Chaparral last Thursday.
Horizon was especially dominant in the fourth set. The match finished with set scores of 25-20, 23-25, 25-22, 25-13.
Horizon had a senior duo take command as Ava Lambert had 20 digs and ten assists and Avery Ashcraft had nine digs and 20 assists. Those nine digs set a new season-high mark for Ashcraft.
Meanwhile, Xavier College Prep got the win against Millennium on Thursday by a conclusive 3-0.
The win didn't come easy: Millennium scored at least 16 points in every set. The final score came out to 25-16, 25-14, 25-16.
Xavier College Prep found their leader in underclassman Tessa Larkin, who had 21 kills, 15 digs, two blocks, and two aces. That's the most aces Larkin has posted since back in September. The team also got some help courtesy of Vivian Hickman, who had eight kills, seven digs, and a block.
Xavier College Prep couldn't miss and finished the game having scored on 44.1% of their attack attempts. That's a new trend for them: their average hitting percentage was 28.8% earlier this season, but in their last five contests they've averaged 35.1%.
Horizon's victory was their 12th straight at home dating back to last season, which pushed their record up to 7-3. As for Xavier College Prep, their record is now 15-1.
Here's a few offensive stats to keep an eye on ahead of Friday's matchup: Horizon has really dialed in their serving this season, having averaged 10.2 aces per game. However, it's not like Xavier College Prep struggles in that department as they've been averaging 8.2. Given these competing strengths, it'll be interesting to see how their clash plays out.
Horizon was able to grind out a solid win over Xavier College Prep in their previous matchup back in October of 2021, winning 2-0. Will Horizon repeat their success, or does Xavier College Prep have a new game plan this time around? We'll find out soon enough.
Article generated by infoSentience based on data entered on MaxPreps
