The River Pilots will face off against the Clay-Battelle Cee-Bees at 6:00 p.m. on Tuesday. Both teams took a loss in their last game, so they'll have plenty of motivation to get the 'W'.
River is probably headed into the matchup with a chip on their shoulder considering Tyler just ended the team's three-match winning streak on Thursday. They fell just short of the Knights by a score of 3-2. While the Pilots didn't get the win, they did start the game off strong, beating the Knights 25-17 in the first set.
River actually scored more points across those five sets (102-98), but sadly they still had to settle for second. The match finished with set scores of 17-25, 26-24, 15-25, 25-21, 15-7.
Meanwhile, Clay-Battelle came up short against The Linsly School on Saturday and fell 2-0. The Cee-Bees have struggled against the Cadets recently, as the game was their fifth consecutive lost matchup.
While Clay-Battelle had to settle for second, they sure made a game of it, scoring at least 19 points in every set they played. Once all was said and done, the final score wound up at 25-20, 25-19.
River's loss dropped their record down to 10-10. As for Clay-Battelle, their defeat dropped their record down to 15-13.
Here's a few offensive stats to keep an eye on ahead of Tuesday's contest: River has really dialed in their serving this season, having averaged 9.4 aces per game. However, it's not like Clay-Battelle struggles in that department as they've been averaging 8.3 aces. Given these competing strengths, it'll be interesting to see how their clash plays out.
River was able to grind out a solid win over Clay-Battelle in their previous matchup back in October of 2024, winning 3-1. The rematch might be a little tougher for the Pilots since the squad won't have the home-court advantage this time around. We'll see if the change in venue makes a difference.
