Volleyball Preview: Upper Merion Area Vikings vs. Perkiomen Valley Vikings
Upper Merion Area has enjoyed a five-game homestand but will soon have to dust off their road jerseys. They will head out to take on the Perkiomen Valley Vikings at 6:45 p.m. on Thursday.
Upper Merion Area is coming in fresh off a high-stakes matchup with another one of Pennsylvania's top teams: Garnet Valley, who was ranked 14th in their home state at the time (Upper Merion Area was ranked fifth). Upper Merion Area took a 3-1 hit to the loss column at the hands of Garnet Valley on Saturday.
The match finished with set scores of 26-24, 25-19, 21-25, 25-9.
Despite their defeat, Upper Merion Area saw several players rise to the challenge and make noteworthy plays. Valeria Paneto, who had 12 digs, was perhaps the best of all. The team also got some help courtesy of Amala Vilivalam, who had six digs and three aces.
Meanwhile, Perkiomen Valley entered their tilt with Pottsgrove on Tuesday with two consecutive wins but they'll enter their next game with three. Everything went their way against the Falcons as they made off with a 3-0 win.
While Perkiomen Valley might've won, it sure wasn't easy: Pottsgrove scored at least 16 points in every set they played. Once all was said and done, the final score wound up at 25-14, 25-14, 25-16.
Olivia Huller and Jocelyn Marks were among the main playmakers for Perkiomen Valley as the former had five digs and four aces and the latter had ten assists. The dominant performance gave Huller a new career-high in aces.
Upper Merion Area's loss dropped their record down to 14-2. As for Perkiomen Valley, their victory bumped their record up to 6-8.
Here's a few offensive stats to keep an eye on ahead of Thursday's contest: Upper Merion Area has really dialed in their serving game this season, having averaged 9.7 aces per game. However, it's not like Perkiomen Valley struggles in that department as they've been averaging 8.8. Given these competing strengths, it'll be interesting to see how their clash plays out.
Upper Merion Area skirted past Perkiomen Valley 3-2 when the teams last played on September 3rd. The rematch might be a little tougher for Upper Merion Area since the squad won't have the home-court advantage this time around. We'll see if the change in venue makes a difference.
Article generated by infoSentience based on data entered on MaxPreps
