The Standing Bear Grizzlies will head out on the road to challenge the Gretna East Griffins at 6:30 p.m. on Thursday. Both come into the match bolstered by wins in their previous matches.
On Tuesday, Standing Bear was able to grind out a solid victory over Beatrice, taking the game 3-1. The win made it back-to-back victories for the Grizzlies.
Standing Bear was dominant in they sets they won, taking each by at least ten points. Once all was said and done, the final score wound up at 25-11, 17-25, 25-15, 25-15.
Standing Bear's success was spearheaded by the efforts of Reese Pedersen, who had 14 digs and three aces, and Lindyn Stutzman, who had 12 digs and three aces. That's the most aces Stutzman has posted since back in September.
They weren't the only good servers: Standing Bear was lethal from the service line and finished the match with 15 aces. They are 6-1 when they serve at least ten aces.
Gretna East not only won on Tuesday, but they posted their biggest win since September 25th (when they won 3-0). Everything went their way against Crete as they made off with a 3-0 win.
Gretna East walked away with the victory (and looked especially good in the first set). The match finished with set scores of 25-15, 25-17, 25-21.
Standing Bear better focus on containing Maci Falcone and Brooklyn Beethe as the pair were huge in Gretna East's win. Falcone had 23 assists and eight digs, while Beethe had 11 digs and one assist. Falcone is on a roll when it comes to assists, as she's now posted 15 or more in each of the last 16 games she's played.
Standing Bear's record now sits at 17-15. As for Gretna East, their record is now 11-19.
Here's a few offensive stats to keep an eye on ahead of Thursday's contest: Standing Bear has really dialed in their serving this season, having averaged 7 aces per game. However, it's not like Gretna East struggles in that department as they've been averaging 5.5 aces. Given these competing strengths, it'll be interesting to see how their clash plays out.
Standing Bear came out on top in a nail-biter against Gretna East in their previous matchup on October 4th, sneaking past 2-1. Will the Grizzlies repeat their success, or do the Griffins have a new game plan this time around? We'll find out soon enough.
