The Big Walnut Golden Eagles will be taking part in a tournament against the Teays Valley Vikings at 6:00 p.m. on Saturday. Both come into the matchup bolstered by wins in their previous matches.
Big Walnut took a loss when they played away from home two weeks ago, but their home fans gave them all the motivation they needed on Wednesday. They blew past Marion Harding 3-0.
The 3-0 score doesn't show just how dominant Big Walnut was: they took every set by at least ten points. The match finished with set scores of 25-6, 25-11, 25-15.
Meanwhile, Teays Valley sure made it a nail-biter, but they managed to escape with a 3-2 victory over Mt. Vernon on Wednesday. The Vikings haven't had any issues with the Yellowjackets recently, as the game was their fourth consecutive win against them.
If you add up the scores from across all five sets (108-104) Teays Valley actually scored fewer points, but in the end it didn't matter. The final score came out to 28-26, 25-23, 20-25, 16-25, 15-9.
Big Walnut better focus on containing Ellie Tatman and Emma Minton as the pair were huge in Teays Valley's win. Tatman had 31 digs and two aces, while Minton had 19 digs and four aces. Tatman has been hot for a while, having posted ten or more digs the last 33 times she's played. The team also got some help courtesy of Peyton Zedlitz, who had 13 digs and three aces.
Teays Valley was lethal from the service line and finished the match with 12 aces. That's the most aces they've posted since back in September.
Teays Valley now has a winning record of 12-11. As for Big Walnut, their victory bumped their record up to 17-6.
Here's a few offensive stats to keep an eye on ahead of Saturday's contest: Big Walnut has really dialed in their serving this season, having averaged 8.1 aces per game. However, it's not like Teays Valley struggles in that department as they've been averaging 8.7 aces. Given these competing strengths, it'll be interesting to see how their clash plays out.
Everything went Big Walnut's way against Teays Valley in their previous matchup back in October of 2024, as Big Walnut made off with a 3-0 win. The rematch might be a little tougher for the Golden Eagles since the squad won't have the home-court advantage this time around. We'll see if the change in venue makes a difference.
