The River Ridge Timberwolves will take on the Highland Cardinals at 7:00 p.m. on Thursday. Both come into the matchup bolstered by wins in their previous matches.
On Tuesday, River Ridge beat Belmont 3-1. The Timberwolves haven't had any issues with the Braves recently, as the game was their third consecutive victory against them.
River Ridge had a slow start but a hot finish: after dropping the first set, they turned around to win the next three. The match finished with set scores of 21-25, 25-23, 27-25, 25-14.
Meanwhile, Highland got the win against Cassville on Tuesday by a conclusive 3-0.
One reason for the win was Highland's just kept getting better, winning each set by more points than the last. The final score came out to 25-16, 25-12, 25-9.
River Ridge better focus on containing SUMARYN HALVERSON and BRINLEIGH BOLLANT as the pair were huge in Highland's win. HALVERSON had 18 assists, while BOLLANT had 11 digs. BOLLANT is on a roll when it comes to digs, as she's now had 11 or more in each of the last six games she's played.
Highland was lethal from the service line and finished the match with 11 aces. That's the most aces they've posted in their last 12 matches.
Highland's win bumped their record up to 17-4. As for River Ridge, their victory bumped their record up to 11-7.
Here's a few offensive stats to keep an eye on ahead of Thursday's contest: River Ridge has really dialed in their serving this season, having averaged 8.7 aces per game. However, it's not like Highland struggles in that department as they've been averaging 7.3 aces. Given these competing strengths, it'll be interesting to see how their clash plays out.
River Ridge came up short against Highland in their previous matchup back in September, falling 3-1. A big factor in that loss was the dominant performance of BOLLANT, who had 18 digs and two aces. Now that the Timberwolves know the damage she can cause, will they be able to stop her this time? There's only one way to find out.
