Volleyball Preview: Columbia Raiders vs. Wellington Dukes
The Columbia Raiders will challenge the Wellington Dukes at 5:00 p.m. on Saturday.
Last Saturday, Columbia didn't have quite enough to beat Midview and fell 3-2. The defeat continues a trend for the Raiders in their matchups with the Middies: they've now lost four in a row.
In a back-and-forth that saw neither team win consecutive sets, Columbia sadly dropped the once that decided the match. The final score came out to 25-23, 20-25, 25-18, 12-25, 15-8.
Meanwhile, Wellington came tearing into Wednesday's game with six straight wins and they left with even more momentum. They skirted past the Red Devils 3-2.
Wellington had a slow start but a hot finish: after dropping the first two sets, they turned around to win the next three. The match finished with set scores of 23-25, 22-25, 25-23, 25-17, 15-8.
Wellington's success was spearheaded by the efforts of Lauren Vannatter, who had eight digs and two aces, and Ella Postlethwait, who had 15 digs. That's the most aces Vannatter has posted in her last eight matchups.
Columbia's loss dropped their record down to 13-9. As for Wellington, their win was their fifth straight on the road, which pushed their record up to 15-7.
Here's a few offensive stats to keep an eye on ahead of Saturday's match: Columbia has really dialed in their serving this season, having averaged 9.1 aces per game. However, it's not like Wellington struggles in that department as they've been averaging 9.7. Given these competing strengths, it'll be interesting to see how their clash plays out.
Columbia came up short against Wellington in their previous matchup back in September, falling 3-1. Can Columbia 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
