Volleyball Preview: Highland Cardinals vs. Darlington Redbirds
The Highland Cardinals will take on the Darlington Redbirds at 8:30 a.m. on Saturday. Highland will be looking to extend their current five-game winning streak.
Last Thursday, Highland made easy work of Cassville and carried off a 3-0 victory.
The final score came out to 25-19, 25-12, 25-20.
Highland's success was spearheaded by the efforts of Celia Oleson, who had three digs and two aces, and Sumaryn Halverson, who had two aces and ten assists. That high mark didn't come from nowhere: Halverson now posted ten or more in the last ten games she's played dating back to last season.
Highland was lethal from the service line and finished the game with 11 aces. That strong performance was nothing new for the team: they've now served at least nine aces in four consecutive matches.
Meanwhile, it was close, but on Thursday Darlington sidestepped Fennimore for a 3-2 win. The victory made it back-to-back wins for the Redbirds.
Darlington had a slow start but a hot finish: after dropping the first two sets, they turned around to win the next three. The match finished with set scores of 16-25, 22-25, 25-20, 26-24, 15-11.
Darlington relied on the efforts of Jaycie Schwartz, who had nine digs, and Maddie Gratz, who had 13 kills, nine digs, and a block. The dominant performance also gave Gratz a new career-high in aces.
Highland pushed their record up to 8-1 with the victory, which was their 15th straight at home dating back to last season. As for Darlington, the win got them back to even at 8-8.
Here's a few offensive stats to keep an eye on ahead of Saturday's game: Highland hasn't let much over the net this season, having averaged 5.8 blocks per game. It's a different story for Darlington, though, as they've been averaging only 1.4. Given Highland's sizable advantage in that area, Darlington will need to find a way to close that gap. Check back here after the action for a full breakdown and analysis of the contest.
Article generated by infoSentience based on data entered on MaxPreps
