Volleyball Preview: Manzano Monarchs vs. Santa Fe Demons
Manzano hasn't had much luck against Santa Fe recently, but that could start to change on Thursday. The Manzano Monarchs will square off against the Santa Fe Demons at 6:00 p.m. Both come into the contest bolstered by wins in their previous matches.
Manzano will bounce into Thursday's match after beating Eldorado, who they hadn't topped in nine consecutive meetings. Manzano walked away with a 3-1 victory over Eldorado on Tuesday. The win made it back-to-back victories for the Monarchs.
The final score came out to 25-22, 25-19, 14-25, 25-21.
Manzano can attribute much of their success to Neveah Lopez-Robles, who had five digs and 15 assists. Lopez-Robles is on a roll when it comes to assists, as she's now posted 13 or more in the last five games she's played.
Manzano 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 nine aces in six consecutive games.
Meanwhile, Santa Fe had already won two in a row and they went ahead and made it three on Tuesday. They put the hurt on the Jaguars with a sharp 3-0 win.
The match finished with set scores of 25-11, 25-21, 25-13.
Lillianna Ocampo and Glynis Chung were among the main playmakers for Santa Fe as the former had 12 digs and the latter had six digs.
Manzano has been performing well recently as they've won five of their last six matchups, which provided a massive bump to their 8-6 record this season. As for Santa Fe, they pushed their record up to 11-1 with the victory, which was their ninth straight at home dating back to last season.
Here's a few offensive stats to keep an eye on ahead of Thursday's contest: Manzano hasn't let much over the net this season, having averaged 4.2 blocks per game. It's a different story for Santa Fe, though, as they've been averaging only 1.4. Given Manzano's sizable advantage in that area, Santa Fe will need to find a way to close that gap.
Manzano suffered a grim 3-0 defeat to Santa Fe in their previous matchup back in November of 2023. Thankfully for Manzano, Ava Romero (who had 15 digs and three aces) won't be suiting up this time. Will that be enough to change the final result? Check MaxPreps.com after the match to find out.
Article generated by infoSentience based on data entered on MaxPreps
