The Burlington Cougars will face off against the Kiowa Indians at 2:00 p.m. on Saturday. Both teams are coming into the contest red-hot, with Burlington sitting on four straight wins and Kiowa on six.
It was a proper cat-fight when Burlington took on Cheyenne Wells on Thursday. The Cougars had just enough and edged out the Tigers 3-2.
It was an exciting match in which no team won back-to-back sets, but at the end of the day Burlington got the one that really mattered. Once all was said and done, the final score wound up at 25-23, 21-25, 25-17, 18-25, 15-8.
Meanwhile, Kiowa made easy work of The Colorado Springs School on Thursday and carried off a 3-0 victory.
The match finished with set scores of 25-12, 25-16, 25-13.
Kiowa found their leader in freshman Kaylee Wyer, who had 11 digs and one assist. Hayden Giles also deserves some recognition as she posted her first assist of the season.
Kiowa was lethal from the service line and finished the match with 13 aces. That strong performance was nothing new for the team: they've now served at least five aces in 12 consecutive matches dating back to last season.
Burlington's win bumped their record up to 6-3. As for Kiowa, their victory bumped their record up to 7-1.
Here's a few offensive stats to keep an eye on ahead of Saturday's matchup: Burlington has really dialed in their serving this season, having averaged 11.7 aces per game. However, it's not like Kiowa struggles in that department as they've been averaging 12.4 aces. Given these competing strengths, it'll be interesting to see how their clash plays out.
Burlington was able to grind out a solid win over Kiowa in their previous matchup back in October of 2024, winning 2-0. Will the Cougars repeat their success, or do the Indians have a new game plan this time around? We'll find out soon enough.
