Volleyball Preview: Orange Park Raiders vs. Clay Blue Devils
Orange Park is 2-8 against Clay since October of 2015 but they'll have a chance to close the gap a little bit on Thursday. The Orange Park Raiders have the luxury of staying home for another game and will welcome the Clay Blue Devils at 6:30 p.m. Clay took a loss in their last contest and will be looking to turn the tables on Orange Park, who comes in off a win.
Having struggled with four defeats in a row, Orange Park finally turned things around against Bishop Snyder on Tuesday. They were the clear victor by a 3-0 margin over the Cardinals. For those keeping track at home, that's the biggest victory the Raiders have posted since September 5th.
Orange Park got the W, but it wasn't easy, at least in the first set. The match finished with set scores of 33-31, 25-15, 25-21.
Rylynn Robinson had a dynamite game for Orange Park, getting 19 digs and two aces.
She wasn't the only good server: Orange Park was lethal from the service line and finished the game with ten aces. That strong performance was nothing new for the team: they've now served at least six aces in three consecutive matchups.
Meanwhile, Clay came up short against Bishop Snyder last Tuesday, falling 3-0. The Blue Devils have now taken an 'L' in back-to-back games.
While Clay was kept off the board, it wasn't for a lack of trying: they cut into Bishop Snyder's winning margin in every set. The match finished with set scores of 25-16, 25-19, 25-21.
Katie Douglas put forth a good effort for the losing side as she had ten digs. The team also got some help courtesy of Kennedy Smith, who had ten digs.
Orange Park's win bumped their record up to 7-8. As for Clay, their loss dropped their record down to 3-13.
Here's a few offensive stats to keep an eye on ahead of Thursday's game: Orange Park has really dialed in their serving game this season, having averaged 5.9 aces per game. However, it's not like Clay struggles in that department as they've been averaging 9.9. Given these competing strengths, it'll be interesting to see how their clash plays out.
Everything went Orange Park's way against Clay in their previous meeting back in August of 2023, as Orange Park made off with a 3-0 victory. Will Orange Park repeat their success, or does Clay have a new game plan this time around? We'll find out soon enough.
Article generated by infoSentience based on data entered on MaxPreps
