Volleyball Preview: Middletown Mustangs vs. Upper Lake Cougars
The Middletown Mustangs will be staying on the road on Thursday to face off against the Upper Lake Cougars at 6:00 p.m. Upper Lake took a loss in their last game and will be looking to turn the tables on Middletown, who comes in off a win.
Last Thursday, Middletown beat Fort Bragg 3-1.
Middletown walked away with the win (but they looked especially good in the first set). The final score came out to 25-8, 17-25, 25-23, 25-20.
Middletown got their victory on the backs of several key players, but it was Jaylee Doris out in front who had seven aces. That's the most aces Doris has posted in her last 12 contests. The team also got some help courtesy of Isa Barnes, who had a block and 36 assists.
Middletown was lethal from the service line and finished the game with 21 aces. That strong performance was nothing new for the team: they've now served at least seven aces in 18 consecutive matchups.
Meanwhile, Upper Lake was not able to break out of their rough patch on Thursday as the team picked up their sixth straight defeat. They took a 3-1 hit to the loss column at the hands of Kelseyville.
The loss didn't mean the game wasn't competitive: Kelseyville scored at least 17 points in every set. The match finished with set scores of 25-20, 18-25, 25-17, 25-23.
Middletown's win bumped their record up to 13-6. As for Upper Lake, their defeat dropped their record down to 3-8.
Here's a few offensive stats to keep an eye on ahead of Thursday's match: Middletown has really dialed in their serving game this season, having averaged 16.3 aces per game. However, it's not like Upper Lake struggles in that department as they've been averaging 9.5. Given these competing strengths, it'll be interesting to see how their clash plays out.
Middletown beat Upper Lake 2-0 when the teams last played back in August. Will Middletown repeat their success, or does Upper Lake have a new game plan this time around? We'll find out soon enough.
Article generated by infoSentience based on data entered on MaxPreps
