The Mercy McAuley Wolves will square off against the Ursuline Academy Lions at 6:30 p.m. on Thursday.
Mercy McAuley is probably headed into the matchup with a chip on their shoulder considering Mount Notre Dame just ended the team's three-match winning streak on Tuesday. They came up short against Mount Notre Dame, falling 3-0.
While Mercy McAuley was kept off the board, it wasn't for a lack of trying: they cut into Mount Notre Dame's winning margin in every set. Once all was said and done, the final score wound up at 25-9, 25-12, 25-17.
Meanwhile, Ursuline Academy faced St. Ursula Academy in a battle between two of the state's top teams on Tuesday. The Lions came out on top against the Bulldogs by a score of 3-1. Winning may never get old, but the Lions sure are getting used to it with their third in a row.
Ursuline Academy was actually outscored in aggregate across those four sets (94-90), but they still managed to win. The match finished with set scores of 25-21, 10-25, 30-28, 25-20.
Mercy McAuley better keep an eye on Madison Moine. She was instrumental in Ursuline Academy's win, getting 21 digs. Those 21 digs gave Moine a new career-high.
Mercy McAuley's loss dropped their record down to 6-12. As for Ursuline Academy, their victory bumped their record up to 13-6.
Here's a few offensive stats to keep an eye on ahead of Thursday's match: Mercy McAuley has really dialed in their serving this season, having averaged 7.4 aces per game. However, it's not like Ursuline Academy struggles in that department as they've been averaging 6.1 aces. Given these competing strengths, it'll be interesting to see how their clash plays out.
Mercy McAuley suffered a grim 3-0 defeat to Ursuline Academy when the teams last played back in September. A big factor in that loss was the dominant performance of the Lions' Kelsey Green, who had 11 digs and two aces. Now that the Wolves know the damage she can cause, will they be able to stop her this time? There's only one way to find out.
