After both having extra time off, the Kettle Moraine Lasers and the Oak Creek Knights will shake off the cobwebs and hit the court against one another at 7:00 p.m. on Tuesday. Both come into the contest bolstered by wins in their previous matches.
Kettle Moraine was handed a three-set loss in their previous outing, but that didn't affect their clutch gene on Wednesday. They had just enough and edged out Nicolet 3-2.
Kettle Moraine took Nicolet into a fifth set where they got it done with a eight-point win. Once all was said and done, the final score wound up at 23-25, 25-15, 11-25, 25-22, 15-7.
Kettle Moraine found their leader in freshman Alyssa LaClair, who had 11 assists and six digs.
Oak Creek not only won on Tuesday, but they posted their biggest win since September 4th (when they won 3-0). They blew past Mukwonago 3-0.
Oak Creek never let Mukwonago on the board, but things got pretty close in the second set. The match finished with set scores of 25-19, 25-22, 25-10.
Kettle Moraine better focus on containing Claire Mank and Isa Ruether as the pair were huge in Oak Creek's win. Mank had 13 digs and two assists, while Ruether had nine kills, nine digs, and three aces. Ruether is on a roll when it comes to kills, as she's now had seven or more in each of the last 21 games she's played.
Oak Creek was lethal from the service line and finished the match with 14 aces. That's the most aces they've posted since back in September.
Oak Creek is on a roll lately: they've won four of their last five matches. That's provided a nice bump to their 24-15 record this season. As for Kettle Moraine, their record is now 12-18.
Here's a few offensive stats to keep an eye on ahead of Tuesday's matchup: Kettle Moraine has really dialed in their serving this season, having averaged 5.7 aces per game. However, it's not like Oak Creek struggles in that department as they've been averaging 7.1 aces. Given these competing strengths, it'll be interesting to see how their clash plays out.
Kettle Moraine couldn't quite get it done against Oak Creek in their previous meeting back in September of 2023 as they fell 2-0. Can the Lasers avenge their defeat or is history doomed to repeat itself? We'll find out soon enough.
