After both having extra time off, the Palo Verde Titans and the Northwest Christian Crusaders will shake off the rust and duke it out at 6:00 p.m. on Thursday. Given that the two teams suffered a loss in their last games, they both have a little extra motivation heading into this matchup.
Last Wednesday, Palo Verde didn't have quite enough to beat Canyon del Oro and fell 3-2. The Titans haven't had much luck with the Dorados recently, as the team has come up short the last three times they've met.
Palo Verde started the match hot and won the first two sets, but they struggled down the stretch and lost the last three. The final score came out to 23-25, 23-25, 25-17, 25-22, 16-14.
Meanwhile, Northwest Christian entered their contest against ALA - West Foothills on Thursday without any home losses, but there's a first time for everything. The Crusaders fell just short of the Guardians by a score of 3-2. While the Crusaders didn't get the win, they did start the game off strong, beating the Guardians 25-18 in the first set.
Northwest Christian wouldn't go down easily and took ALA - West Foothills into a fifth set but they suffered a heartbreaking ten-point loss. Once all was said and done, the final score wound up at 18-25, 25-21, 25-17, 21-25, 15-5.
Palo Verde will have to keep a close watch on Brooks Martin and Trace Martin, a pair of players who had a big impact on Northwest Christian's prior game. Brooks had 27 digs and six assists, while Trace had 19 assists and six digs.
Northwest Christian's defeat was their first in the region, dropping their region record down to 4-1 and their overall record down to 21-8. As for Palo Verde, their loss dropped their record down to 9-11.
