Volleyball Preview: Lincoln Northwest Falcons vs. Beatrice Orangemen
Lincoln Northwest is on a ten-game streak of home losses dating back to last season, Beatrice a four-game streak of away losses, but someone's luck is about to change on Thursday. The Lincoln Northwest Falcons will host the Beatrice Orangemen at 7:00 p.m. Both come into the contest bolstered by wins in their previous matches.
Last Tuesday, Lincoln Northwest earned a 3-1 win over Hastings.
Lincoln Northwest walked away with the victory (and looked especially good in the first set). The match finished with set scores of 25-15, 24-26, 25-16, 25-19.
Lilly Keifer was nothing short of spectacular: she had 21 digs. The team also got some help courtesy of Ava Fisser, who had nine digs.
Meanwhile, it was close, but on Tuesday Beatrice sidestepped Ralston for a 3-2 win.
Beatrice took Ralston into a fifth set where they got it done with a two-point win. Once all was said and done, the final score wound up at 25-3, 25-13, 21-25, 20-25, 15-13.
Beatrice can attribute much of their success to Annie Gleason, who hit 61.1% for 11 kills15 aces, 12 digs, and three blocks. The dominant performance gave Gleason a new career-high in hitting percentage.
Beatrice was lethal from the service line and finished the game with 25 aces. That strong performance was nothing new for the team: they've now served at least eight aces in four consecutive games.
Lincoln Northwest's victory ended a 15-game drought on the road dating back to last season and puts them at 8-23. As for Beatrice, they are on a roll lately: they've won three of their last four matches, which provided a nice bump to their 9-16 record this season.
Here's a few offensive stats to keep an eye on ahead of Thursday's matchup: Lincoln Northwest has really dialed in their serving this season, having averaged 5.2 aces per game. However, it's not like Beatrice struggles in that department as they've been averaging 7.3. Given these competing strengths, it'll be interesting to see how their clash plays out.
Lincoln Northwest skirted past Beatrice 2-1 when the teams last played back in August. Will Lincoln Northwest repeat their success, or does Beatrice have a new game plan this time around? We'll find out soon enough.
Article generated by infoSentience based on data entered on MaxPreps
