After both having extra time off, the Merritt Island Mustangs and the South Walton Seahawks will shake off the rust and duke it out at 10:00 a.m. on Friday. Each of these teams will be fighting to keep a win streak alive as Merritt Island comes in on 22 and South Walton on seven.
Merritt Island is on a roll after a high-stakes playoff matchup on Wednesday. Everything went their way against Santa Fe as they made off with a 3-0 win.
While Merritt Island might've won, it sure wasn't easy: Santa Fe scored at least 18 points in every set they played. The match finished with set scores of 25-22, 25-23, 25-18.
Sarah Niazi and Reece Loggins were among the main playmakers for Merritt Island as the former had 11 digs and one assist and the latter had 11 digs and one assist.
Meanwhile, South Walton hadn't done well against Bishop Kenny recently (they were 0-4 in their previous four matchups), but they didn't let the past get in their way on Wednesday. The Seahawks came out on top against the Crusaders by a score of 3-1.
South Walton had a slow start but a hot finish: after dropping the first set, they turned around to win the next three. Once all was said and done, the final score wound up at 17-25, 25-20, 25-12, 25-20.
Merritt Island better keep an eye on Kamryn Garcia. She was instrumental in South Walton's win, getting 13 digs and three aces. What's more, Garcia racked up seven assists, the most she's had since back in September. Laurali Douglass also deserves some recognition as she posted her first assist of the season.
South Walton's victory bumped their record up to 21-7. As for Merritt Island, their win bumped their record up to 28-2.
Here's a few offensive stats to keep an eye on ahead of Friday's match: Merritt Island has really dialed in their serving this season, having averaged 6.9 aces per game. However, it's not like South Walton struggles in that department as they've been averaging an even more impressive 7.9 aces. Given these competing strengths, it'll be interesting to see how their clash plays out. Come back here after the game to get an analysis of the match and other volleyball content.
