Volleyball Preview: Lakeland Dreadnaughts vs. Santa Fe Catholic Hawks
After three games on the road, Lakeland is heading back home. They will host the Santa Fe Catholic Hawks at 6:00 p.m. on Wednesday. Given that the two teams suffered a loss in their last game, they both have a little extra motivation heading into this contest.
Lakeland came up short against Winter Haven on Tuesday, falling 3-0. The loss continues a trend for the Dreadnaughts in their matchups with the Blue Devils: they've now lost five in a row.
While Lakeland was kept off the board, it wasn't for a lack of trying: they cut into Winter Haven's winning margin in every set. The match finished with set scores of 25-10, 25-15, 25-16.
Despite the defeat, Lakeland had strong showings from Megan Rine, who had 12 digs, and Caroline Mank, who had three digs. Rine is on a roll when it comes to digs, as she's now had 12 or more in the last six games she's played dating back to last season.
Meanwhile, Santa Fe Catholic didn't have quite enough to beat Lakeland Christian on Tuesday and fell 3-2.
In an exciting match in which no team claimed back-to-back wins, Santa Fe Catholic sadly wound up on the wrong side. The final score came out to 25-19, 22-25, 25-19, 17-25, 15-11.
The loss doesn't tell the whole story though, as several players had good games. One of the most active was Maren Lausell, who had 27 digs. The team also got some help courtesy of Bridget Walsh, who had eight digs and 40 assists.
Lakeland's loss dropped their record down to 5-9. As for Santa Fe Catholic, their defeat dropped their record down to 13-5.
Here's a few offensive stats to keep an eye on ahead of Wednesday's match: Lakeland has really dialed in their serving game this season, having averaged 6.3 aces per game. However, it's not like Santa Fe Catholic struggles in that department as they've been averaging 10.4. Given these competing strengths, it'll be interesting to see how their clash plays out.
Lakeland was able to grind out a solid win over Santa Fe Catholic in their previous meeting back in September of 2021, winning 2-0. Will Lakeland repeat their success, or does Santa Fe Catholic have a new game plan this time around? We'll find out soon enough.
Article generated by infoSentience based on data entered on MaxPreps
