Volleyball Preview: Highlands Bluebirds vs. Notre Dame Academy Pandas
Highlands is 0-5 against Notre Dame Academy since October of 2014 but things could change on Tuesday. The Highlands Bluebirds are on the road again to play the Notre Dame Academy Pandas at 5:30 p.m. After the two teams made easy work of their previous opponents, one won't be so lucky on Tuesday.
Highlands will bounce into Tuesday's game after beating Cooper, who they had gone 2-7 against in their nine prior meetings. Highlands blew past Cooper 3-0 on Sunday.
Highlands' not only won, but also showed off some consistency: keeping Cooper between 18 and 21 points across their sets. The match finished with set scores of 25-18, 25-21, 25-20.
Highlands' success was the result of a balanced attack that saw several players step up, but Ava Muzumdar led the charge by getting five digs and 23 assists. Ellie Mohr was another key player, getting nine digs and three aces.
Meanwhile, Notre Dame Academy came tearing into Sunday's matchup with four straight wins and they left with even more momentum. Everything went their way against the Vikings as they made off with a 3-0 victory.
The 3-0 score doesn't show just how dominant Notre Dame Academy was: they took every set by at least 15 points. The match finished with set scores of 25-10, 25-9, 25-10.
Notre Dame Academy relied on the efforts of Julia Grace, who had 12 digs, and Lacey Hostetler, who had seven digs.
Highlands is on a roll lately: they've won nine of their last ten contests, which provided a nice bump to their 29-9 record this season. As for Notre Dame Academy, their win bumped their record up to 30-3.
Here's a few offensive stats to keep an eye on ahead of Tuesday's match: Highlands has really dialed in their serving this season, having averaged 7.6 aces per game. However, it's not like Notre Dame Academy struggles in that department as they've been averaging 6.7. Given these competing strengths, it'll be interesting to see how their clash plays out.
Highlands suffered a grim 3-0 defeat to Notre Dame Academy when the teams last played back in October of 2019. Can Highlands avenge their loss or is history doomed to repeat itself? We'll find out soon enough.
Article generated by infoSentience based on data entered on MaxPreps
