The Chippewa Chipps are taking a road trip to face off against the Orrville Red Riders at 6:30 p.m. on Thursday.
On Wednesday, Chippewa came up short against Rittman and fell 3-1. The Chipps have now taken an 'L' in back-to-back matches.
While Chippewa ultimately came up short, they didn't go down without a fight: they scored at least 18 points in every set they played. Once all was said and done, the final score wound up at 25-21, 18-25, 25-23, 25-18.
Meanwhile, Orrville was able to grind out a solid victory over Manchester on Tuesday, taking the game 3-1. The Red Riders haven't had any issues with the Panthers recently, as the game was their fifth consecutive win against them.
In the three sets Orrville was on fire: they won each by at least ten points. The final score came out to 19-25, 25-15, 25-14, 25-15.
Chippewa better focus on containing Zyah Handwerk and Hannah Croskey as the pair were huge in Orrville's win. Handwerk had eight digs and three aces, while Croskey had 11 digs and four aces. Those four aces gave Croskey a new career-high.
Orrville was lethal from the service line and finished the match with 11 aces. That strong performance was nothing new for the team: they've now served at least five aces in three consecutive matchups.
Chippewa's defeat dropped their record down to 11-9. As for Orrville, their record now sits at 12-8.
Here's a few offensive stats to keep an eye on ahead of Thursday's contest: Chippewa has really dialed in their serving this season, having averaged 8.3 aces per game. However, it's not like Orrville struggles in that department as they've been averaging 6.7 aces. Given these competing strengths, it'll be interesting to see how their clash plays out.
Chippewa beat Orrville 3-1 in their previous meeting back in October of 2022. Will the Chipps repeat their success, or do the Red Riders have a new game plan this time around? We'll find out soon enough.
