Kell hasn't had much luck against Westminster recently, but that could start to change on Thursday. After both having extra time off, the two teams will shake off the rust and duke it out at 6:00 p.m.
Kell is headed into the matchup having just suffered their biggest defeat since September 4th on Thursday. They lost 3-0 to Harrison.
While Kell was not able to make it on the board, they still kept things close, especially in the third set. Once all was said and done, the final score wound up at 25-17, 25-15, 25-23.
Despite the loss, Kell had strong showings from Haylee Boyle, who had seven digs and two aces, and Rilee Wells, who had ten digs. Rowen Melvin also deserves some recognition as she had her first kill of the season.
Meanwhile, Westminster had already won seven in a row and they went ahead and made it eight on Wednesday. They came within a single set of losing the streak, but they secured a 3-2 W against the Wolverines.
Westminster wouldn't go down easily and took Walker into a fifth set where they got it done with a five-point win. The match finished with set scores of 18-25, 25-17, 22-25, 25-18, 15-10.
Kell better focus on containing Sophia Bonadies and Kiran Chen as the pair were huge in Westminster's win. Bonadies had 24 digs and four aces, while Chen had ten digs and five aces. Those 24 digs gave Bonadies a new career-high.
Westminster was lethal from the service line and finished the match with 18 aces. That strong performance was nothing new for the team: they've now served at least eight aces in three consecutive contests.
Kell's defeat dropped their record down to 21-18. As for Westminster, their record now sits at 33-9.
Here's a few offensive stats to keep an eye on ahead of Thursday's match: Kell has really dialed in their serving this season, having averaged 5.5 aces per game. However, it's not like Westminster struggles in that department as they've been averaging 7.7 aces. Given these competing strengths, it'll be interesting to see how their clash plays out.
Kell suffered a grim 3-0 defeat to Westminster in their previous meeting back in August. Can the Longhorns avenge their loss or is history doomed to repeat itself? We'll find out soon enough.
