The Heath Bulldogs will square off against the River View Black Bears at 11:30 a.m. on Saturday. Both come into the match bolstered by wins in their previous matches.
Heath took a loss when they played away from home on Thursday, but their home fans gave them all the motivation they needed on Tuesday. They came out on top against Granville by a score of 3-1.
Heath had a slow start but a hot finish: after dropping the first set, they turned around to win the next three. The match finished with set scores of 16-25, 25-15, 25-20, 25-22.
Adrianne Pethtel was the offensive standout of the contest as she had 13 digs and five assists. That's the most assists she has posted over her last seven matchups.
Meanwhile, River View had already won three in a row and they went ahead and made it four on Thursday. Everything went their way against the Scotties as they made off with a 3-0 victory.
River View was especially dominant in the second set. Once all was said and done, the final score wound up at 25-18, 25-12, 25-21.
Heath better focus on containing Lindyn Fry and Kelsie Smith as the pair were huge in River View's win. Fry had 21 digs and three assists, while Smith hit 100% for five kills and 17 digs and three aces. Smith has been hot for a while, having also posted 16 or more assists the last 43 times she's played.
Heath now has a winning record of 9-8. As for River View, their win bumped their record up to 14-3.
Here's a few offensive stats to keep an eye on ahead of Saturday's match: Heath has really dialed in their serving this season, having averaged 7.3 aces per game. However, it's not like River View struggles in that department as they've been averaging 10.8 aces. Given these competing strengths, it'll be interesting to see how their clash plays out.
Heath beat River View 2-0 in their previous matchup back in August of 2019. Do the Bulldogs have another victory up their sleeve, or will the Black Bears turn the tables on them? We'll have the answer soon enough.
