The Highland Tech Rams will venture away from home to take on the Cornerstone Charter Cardinals at 4:00 p.m. on Saturday. Both come into the matchup bolstered by wins in their previous matches.
Highland Tech is on a roll after a high-stakes playoff matchup on Thursday. They came out on top in a nail-biter against Christ the King, sneaking past 3-2. The victory made it back-to-back wins for the Rams.
If you add up the scores from across all five sets (108-107) Highland Tech actually scored fewer points, but in the end it didn't matter. Once all was said and done, the final score wound up at 19-25, 25-23, 25-21, 22-25, 16-14.
Meanwhile, Cornerstone Charter got the win against Cherryville on Thursday by a conclusive 3-0.
The match finished with set scores of 25-17, 25-7, 25-9.
Highland Tech better focus on containing Aubrey Kimball and Ashley Belland as the pair were huge in Cornerstone Charter's win. Kimball had 12 digs and five assists, while Belland had ten digs and five aces. That's the most digs Belland has posted since back in September.
Cornerstone Charter's win bumped their record up to 25-4. As for Highland Tech, their victory bumped their record up to 21-5.
Here's a few offensive stats to keep an eye on ahead of Saturday's match: Highland Tech has really dialed in their serving this season, having averaged 10.5 aces per game. However, it's not like Cornerstone Charter struggles in that department as they've been averaging an even more impressive 13.9 aces. Given these competing strengths, it'll be interesting to see how their clash plays out.
Everything went Highland Tech's way against Cornerstone Charter in their previous matchup back in October of 2023, as Highland Tech made off with a 3-0 win. The rematch might be a little tougher for the Rams since the team won't have the home-court advantage this time around. We'll see if the change in venue makes a difference.
