The Warde Mustangs will take on the Norwich Free Academy Wildcats at 6:00 p.m. on Thursday.
Warde is coming in fresh off a high-stakes matchup with another one of Connecticut's top teams: Trumbull, who was ranked ninth at the time (Warde was ranked fourth). The Mustangs fell just short of the Eagles by a score of 3-2 two weeks ago. The Mustangs' defeat signaled the end of their six-game winning streak.
Warde took Trumbull into a fifth set but they suffered a heartbreaking four-point loss. Once all was said and done, the final score wound up at 25-22, 25-18, 23-25, 20-25, 15-11.
Meanwhile, it can be hard to translate regular season success to the playoffs, but Norwich Free Academy had no problem doing just that on Tuesday. They sure made it a nail-biter, but they managed to escape with a 3-2 victory over the Titans. For those keeping track at home, that's the closest win the Wildcats have posted since October 8th.
Norwich Free Academy had a slow start but a hot finish: after dropping the first two sets, they turned around to win the next three. The final score came out to 18-25, 24-26, 25-13, 25-22, 16-14.
Norwich Free Academy's victory was their fourth straight at home, which pushed their record up to 13-10. As for Warde, their loss dropped their record down to 18-3.
Here's a few offensive stats to keep an eye on ahead of Thursday's contest: Warde hasn't let much over the net this season, having averaged 12.4 blocks per game. It's a different story for Norwich Free Academy, though, as they've been averaging only 1.2 blocks. Given Warde's sizable advantage in that area, the Wildcats will need to find a way to close that gap.
Warde took their win against Norwich Free Academy in their previous meeting back in September by a conclusive 3-0 score. The rematch might be a little tougher for the Mustangs since the team won't have the home-court advantage this time around. We'll see if the change in venue makes a difference.
