The Eau Claire Immanuel Lutheran Lancers will square off against the Newman Catholic Fighting Cardinals at 7:00 p.m. on Thursday. Both come into the contest bolstered by wins in their previous matches.
Eau Claire Immanuel Lutheran is on a roll after a high-stakes playoff matchup on Saturday. They had just enough and edged out Owen-Withee 3-2. The win made it back-to-back victories for the Lancers.
Eau Claire Immanuel Lutheran had a slow start but a hot finish: after dropping the first two sets, they turned around to win the next three. Once all was said and done, the final score wound up at 22-25, 25-27, 25-17, 25-23, 15-7.
Gwyneth Gurgel
| 10/25/25 vs Owen-Withee | 12 |
| 10/23/25 vs Greenwood | 1 |
| 10/16/25 @ Cochrane-Fountain City | 3 |
| 10/14/25 vs Whitehall | 0 |
| 10/11/25 vs Stanley-Boyd | 1 |
| + 16 more games |
Eau Claire Immanuel Lutheran can attribute much of their success to Gwyneth Gurgel, who had 12 digs. That's the most digs Gurgel has posted since back in September.
Eau Claire Immanuel Lutheran was lethal from the service line and finished the match with 12 aces. They are 11-1 when they serve at least ten aces.
Meanwhile, Newman Catholic made easy work of Athens on Saturday and carried off a 3-0 victory. The Fighting Cardinals haven't had any issues with the Bluejays recently, as the game was their third consecutive win against them.
The match finished with set scores of 25-14, 25-18, 25-15.
Newman Catholic's win came from a few key players Eau Claire Immanuel Lutheran will need to keep an eye on. One of the most notable was Kate Kerns, who had 17 assists and four digs.
Eau Claire Immanuel Lutheran's record now sits at 19-16. As for Newman Catholic, their record is now 25-16.
Here's a few offensive stats to keep an eye on ahead of Thursday's match: Eau Claire Immanuel Lutheran has really dialed in their serving this season, having averaged 7.1 aces per game. However, it's not like Newman Catholic struggles in that department as they've been averaging an even more impressive 6.9 aces. Given these competing strengths, it'll be interesting to see how their clash plays out.
Eau Claire Immanuel Lutheran came up short against Newman Catholic when the teams last played back in September, falling 2-0. Can the Lancers avenge their loss or is history doomed to repeat itself? We'll find out soon enough.
