After both having extra time off, the Badger Badgers and the Madison Memorial Spartans will shake off the rust and duke it out at 7:00 p.m. on Thursday. Badger has a tough task ahead: they'll enter the matchup with three straight losses, while Madison Memorial will come in with six straight wins.
Badger had taken Elkhorn down for three straight games at home, but that winning streak came to an end on Tuesday. The Badgers fell 3-1 to the Elks.
Badger started the match hot and won the first set, but they struggled down the stretch and lost the last three. The final score came out to 22-25, 25-11, 25-19, 25-19.
Despite the defeat, Badger got top-tier performance from Marissa Bergstrom, who had 21 digs and four assists.
Meanwhile, Madison Memorial earned a 2-0 victory over Wisconsin Dells last Saturday.
Madison Memorial easily took the second set, but they let things get interesting in the other. Once all was said and done, the final score wound up at 25-21, 25-14.
Badger now has a losing record of 17-18. As for Madison Memorial, their win bumped their record up to 22-14.
Here's a few offensive stats to keep an eye on ahead of Thursday's match: Badger has really dialed in their serving this season, having averaged 8.6 aces per game. However, it's not like Madison Memorial struggles in that department as they've been averaging 5.9 aces. Given these competing strengths, it'll be interesting to see how their clash plays out.
Badger came up short against Madison Memorial when the teams last played last Saturday, falling 2-0. Can the Badgers avenge their loss or is history doomed to repeat itself? We'll find out soon enough.
