Volleyball Preview: Doral Academy Firebirds vs. Coral Gables Cavaliers
After four games on the road, Doral Academy is heading back home. After both having extra time off, they and the Coral Gables Cavaliers will shake off the cobwebs and square off against one another at 7:00 p.m. on Wednesday. Given that both suffered a loss in their last game, they both have a little extra motivation heading into this game.
Doral Academy heads in on the heels of a playoff contest on Thursday. They took a 3-1 hit to the loss column at the hands of Cypress Bay. While the Firebirds didn't get the win, they did start the game off strong, beating the Lightning 25-23 in the first set.
Doral Academy started the match hot and won the first set, but they struggled down the stretch and lost the last three. The match finished with set scores of 23-25, 26-24, 25-23, 25-18.
Despite the defeat, Doral Academy saw an underclassman step up: Susana Zambrano had eight digs and two aces. That's the most aces Zambrano has posted in her last seven matches. The team also got some help courtesy of Amy Smith, who had six digs and 22 assists.
Meanwhile, Coral Gables entered their matchup against Palmetto on Tuesday without any home losses, but there's a first time for everything. Coral Gables fell just short of Palmetto by a score of 3-2. The Cavaliers have struggled against the Panthers recently, as their game on Tuesday was their sixth consecutive lost matchup.
Coral Gables actually scored more points across those five sets (104-101), but sadly they still had to settle for second. Once all was said and done, the final score wound up at 25-15, 28-26, 22-25, 11-25, 15-13.
Doral Academy now has a losing record at 11-12. As for Coral Gables, their loss ended a nine-game streak of wins at home dating back to last season and dropped them to 18-5.
Here's a few offensive stats to keep an eye on ahead of Wednesday's game: Doral Academy has really dialed in their serving this season, having averaged 8.6 aces per game. However, it's not like Coral Gables struggles in that department as they've been averaging 12.2. Given these competing strengths, it'll be interesting to see how their clash plays out.
Everything went Doral Academy's way against Coral Gables when the teams last played back in October of 2023, as Doral Academy made off with a 3-0 win. Does Doral Academy have another victory up their sleeve, or will Coral Gables turn the tables on them? We'll have the answer soon enough.
Article generated by infoSentience based on data entered on MaxPreps
