Volleyball Preview: Homestead Spartans vs. Bellmont Braves
Homestead hasn't had much luck against Bellmont recently, but that could start to change on Saturday. The Homestead Spartans will face off against the Bellmont Braves at 12:30 p.m. Homestead is looking to tack on another W to their three-game streak on the road.
Homestead is probably headed into the matchup with a chip on their shoulder considering Southwood just ended the team's four-game winning streak on Saturday. They fell just short of the Knights by a score of 2-1. While the Spartans didn't get the win, they did start the game off strong, beating the Knights 25-23 in the first set.
Homestead started the match hot and won the first set, but they struggled down the stretch and lost the last two. The match finished with set scores of 23-25, 25-22, 15-10.
Homestead might have lost, but man, Madelyn Sipe was a machine: she had 20 digs and two aces. That's the most aces Sipe has posted in her last 11 matches.
Meanwhile, Bellmont had already proven themselves in the regular season and they didn't miss a beat now that it's playoff time. They put the hurt on Huntington North with a sharp 3-0 victory on Thursday. The win was familiar territory for the Braves who have now won ten games in a row.
The 3-0 score doesn't show just how dominant Bellmont was: they took every set by at least 16 points. The match finished with set scores of 25-9, 25-9, 25-8.
Bellmont got their victory on the backs of several key players, but it was Katie Mills out in front who had ten digs and two aces. The team also got some help courtesy of Lilly Selking, who had two aces and 13 assists.
She wasn't the only good server: Bellmont was lethal from the service line and finished the game with 12 aces. That strong performance was nothing new for the team: they've now served at least seven aces in six consecutive contests.
Homestead's defeat dropped their record down to 25-7. As for Bellmont, their win bumped their record up to 24-7.
Here's a few offensive stats to keep an eye on ahead of Saturday's matchup: Homestead has really dialed in their serving this season, having averaged 6.9 aces per game. However, it's not like Bellmont struggles in that department as they've been averaging 7. Given these competing strengths, it'll be interesting to see how their clash plays out.
Homestead came up short against Bellmont in their previous matchup back in September, falling 3-1. A big factor in that loss was the dominant performance of Bellmont's Liz Bobay, who had nine digs and three aces. Now that Homestead knows the damage she can cause, will they be able to stop her this time? Check MaxPreps.com after the match to find out.
Article generated by infoSentience based on data entered on MaxPreps
