The St. Joseph Jayhawks are taking a road trip to take on the Rich Rebels at 6:30 p.m. on Thursday.
St. Joseph came into their game on Tuesday off a hard-fought close win, but unfortunately suffered a serious change of fortune. They came up short against Providence Hall, falling 3-0. The Jayhawks' defeat signaled the end of their five-game winning streak.
While St. Joseph was not able to make it on the board, they still kept things close, especially in the first set. Once all was said and done, the final score wound up at 25-23, 25-16, 25-18.
Rich extended their winning streak to eight games thanks to a huge performance from Paige Smith. The Rebels walked away with a 3-1 win over Tintic on Saturday with plenty of help from Smith, who had 25 digs and two aces. She is on a roll when it comes to aces, as she's now served two or more in each of the last four games she's played.
The match finished with set scores of 25-10, 24-26, 25-16, 25-14.
St. Joseph better focus on containing Tyla Pugmire and Laci McKinnon as the pair were huge in Rich's win. Pugmire had ten digs and two aces, while McKinnon had 14 kills and ten digs. That's the most aces Pugmire has posted over her last three matches.
Rich was lethal from the service line and finished the match with 17 aces. That strong performance was nothing new for the team: they've now served at least eight aces in four consecutive matchups.
St. Joseph's loss dropped their record down to 13-8. As for Rich, their record now sits at 12-6.
St. Joseph beat Rich 3-1 in their previous matchup back in September. The rematch might be a little tougher for the Jayhawks since the team won't have the home-court advantage this time around. We'll see if the change in venue makes a difference.
