Volleyball Preview: Westwood Wolverines vs. Methuen Rangers
Westwood has been on the road for two straight, but on Thursday they'll finally head home. They will host the Methuen Rangers at 6:30 p.m. Both teams took a loss in their last game, so they'll have plenty of motivation to get the 'W'.
Westwood is coming in fresh off a high-stakes matchup with another one of Massachusetts' top teams: Canton, who was ranked 18th in their home state at the time (Westwood was ranked 13th). Westwood fell 3-1 to Canton on Saturday. The contest marked the Wolverines' lowest-scoring match so far this season.
Westwood started the match hot and won the first set, but they struggled down the stretch and lost the last three. The match finished with set scores of 20-25, 25-16, 25-14, 25-18.
Despite the loss, Westwood had strong showings from Immy Roberts, who had 21 digs, and Angelina Homsy, who had 14 digs and three kills. Roberts is on a roll when it comes to digs, as she's now had ten or more in the last eight games she's played dating back to last season.
Even though they lost, Westwood kept the net locked down and finished the game with 13 blocks. That strong performance was nothing new for the team: they've now had at least five blocks in 15 consecutive games.
Meanwhile, Methuen was not able to break out of their rough patch on Monday as the team picked up their third straight defeat. They took a 3-1 hit to the loss column at the hands of Andover.
Once all was said and done, the final score wound up at 25-22, 23-25, 25-7, 25-5.
The loss doesn't tell the whole story though, as several players had good games. One of the most active was Elizabeth Descheneaux, who had seven kills, five digs, and a block. The team also got some help courtesy of Kathryn Driend, who had three digs, three blocks, and two kills.
Westwood's loss dropped their record down to 13-3. As for Methuen, their defeat dropped their record down to 12-7.
Here's a few offensive stats to keep an eye on ahead of Thursday's matchup: Westwood has really dialed in their serving this season, having averaged 11.7 aces per game. However, it's not like Methuen struggles in that department as they've been averaging 12.2. Given these competing strengths, it'll be interesting to see how their clash plays out. Check MaxPreps after the action for a full breakdown of the game and more volleyball content.
Article generated by infoSentience based on data entered on MaxPreps
