The Messalonskee Eagles will challenge the Gardiner Tigers at 5:30 p.m. on Friday. Messalonskee has a tough task ahead: they'll enter the contest with three straight defeats, while Gardiner will come in with six straight wins.
Last Wednesday, Messalonskee didn't have quite enough to beat Cony and fell 3-2.
Messalonskee wouldn't go down easily and took Cony into a fifth set but they suffered a heartbreaking seven-point loss. The final score came out to 26-24, 16-25, 23-25, 25-16, 15-8.
Messalonskee's loss shouldn't obscure the performances of Sofia Derosby, who had 55 digs, and Anastacia Grier, who had 12 digs, five aces, and five aces. Derosby is on a roll when it comes to digs, as she's now had 29 or more in the last four games she's played dating back to last season. Another player making a difference was Jada Forney, who had 15 digs and five aces.
Even though they lost, Messalonskee kept the net locked down and finished the game with 16 blocks. That strong performance was nothing new for the team: they've now had at least eight blocks in 20 consecutive matches dating back to last season.
Meanwhile, Gardiner beat Nokomis 3-1 on Wednesday.
Gardiner was especially dominant in the first set. Once all was said and done, the final score wound up at 25-11, 21-25, 25-19, 25-18.
Messalonskee's defeat dropped their record down to 1-3. As for Gardiner, their victory was their fourth straight on the road, which pushed their record up to 6-1.
Everything went Messalonskee's way against Gardiner in their previous meeting back in September of 2023, as Messalonskee made off with a 3-0 win. The rematch might be a little tougher for Messalonskee since the squad won't have the home-court advantage this time around. We'll see if the change in venue makes a difference.
Article generated by infoSentience based on data entered on MaxPreps
