Volleyball Preview: Naugatuck Greyhounds vs. Woodland Regional Hawks
The Naugatuck Greyhounds will play host again on Friday to welcome the Woodland Regional Hawks, where the match is scheduled at 6:00 p.m. Naugatuck will be strutting in after a win while Woodland Regional will be coming in after a loss.
On Thursday, Naugatuck got the win against St. Paul Catholic by a conclusive 3-0.
Naugatuck walked away with the victory (and looked especially good in the first set). The match finished with set scores of 25-14, 26-24, 25-22.
Meanwhile, Woodland Regional faced Seymour in a battle between two of the state's top teams on Thursday. Woodland Regional took a 3-1 hit to the loss column at the hands of Seymour. The Hawks' defeat signaled the end of their three-game winning streak.
Woodland Regional actually scored more points across those four sets (88-85), but sadly they still had to settle for second. Once all was said and done, the final score wound up at 25-22, 25-21, 10-25, 25-20.
Despite their loss, Woodland Regional saw several players rise to the challenge and make noteworthy plays. Emily Ambrocio, who had ten digs and three aces, was perhaps the best of all. Ambrocio is on a roll when it comes to aces, as she's now served three or more in the last three games she's played dating back to last season. The team also got some help courtesy of Sophia Ligi, who had five digs and five aces.
She wasn't the only good server: Woodland Regional was lethal from the service line and finished the game with 13 aces. That strong performance was nothing new for the team: they've now served at least 13 aces in four consecutive matchups.
Naugatuck's win bumped their record up to 15-3. As for Woodland Regional, their defeat ended a nine-game streak of away wins dating back to last season and brought them to 18-3-1.
Here's a few offensive stats to keep an eye on ahead of Friday's match: Naugatuck hasn't let much over the net this season, having averaged 4 blocks per game. It's a different story for Woodland Regional, though, as they've been averaging only 1.7. Given Naugatuck's sizable advantage in that area, Woodland Regional will need to find a way to close that gap.
Naugatuck suffered a grim 3-0 defeat to Woodland Regional in their previous matchup two weeks ago. Will Naugatuck have more luck at home instead of on the road? Check back here after the action for a full breakdown and analysis of the contest.
Article generated by infoSentience based on data entered on MaxPreps
