The Canon City Tigers will face off against the Colorado Springs Christian Lions at 6:00 p.m. on Thursday.
Canon City is probably headed into the matchup with a chip on their shoulder considering The Vanguard School just ended the team's three-game winning streak on Wednesday. They lost 3-0 to the Coursers. The shutout was out of character for the Tigers seeing as the last time the team failed to score was back in March.
The loss didn't mean the game wasn't competitive: The Vanguard School scored at least 17 points in every set. The match finished with set scores of 25-17, 25-20, 25-17.
Mason Lenard
| 04/09/25 @ The Vanguard School | 18 |
| 04/07/25 vs Thomas MacLaren School | 15 |
| 04/03/25 @ Colorado Springs Christian | 14 |
Despite the defeat, Canon City had strong showings from Mason Lenard, who had 18 digs, and Micah Paschall, who had ten digs and ten assists. Lenard has been hot recently, having posted 14 or more digs the last three times he's played. Noah Donald also deserves some recognition as he posted his first assist of the season.
Meanwhile, Colorado Springs Christian made easy work of Atlas Preparatory School on Wednesday and carried off a 3-0 win. The victory made it back-to-back wins for the Lions.
The 3-0 score doesn't show just how dominant Colorado Springs Christian was: they took every set by at least 13 points. Once all was said and done, the final score wound up at 25-10, 25-11, 25-12.
Canon City's loss dropped their record down to 6-5. As for Colorado Springs Christian, they now have a winning record of 5-4.
Here's a few offensive stats to keep an eye on ahead of Thursday's game: Canon City hasn't let much over the net this season, having averaged 4.4 blocks per game. It's a different story for Colorado Springs Christian, though, as they've been averaging only 1.8 blocks. Given Canon City's sizable advantage in that area, the Lions will need to find a way to close that gap.
Canon City skirted past Colorado Springs Christian 3-2 in their previous meeting on Thursday. One of the biggest obstacles the team faced in that game was the Lions' Drew Hacker, who had 21 digs and two assists. Now that he's got a second chance to win this matchup, will the Tigers still be able to contain Hacker? There's only one way to find out.
