Harding hasn't had much luck against Badger recently, but that could start to change on Thursday. The Harding Skippers will square off against the Badger Braves at 7:00 p.m. Both come into the match bolstered by wins in their previous matches.
Harding took a loss when they played away from home on Thursday, but their home fans gave them all the motivation they needed on Saturday. They came out on top against Mathews by a score of 3-1.
The final score came out to 25-21, 23-25, 25-19, 25-21.
Ashlie Kastl went supernova for Harding, getting 14 digs and four aces. That's the most aces Kastl has posted in her last nine matchups.
Harding was lethal from the service line and finished the game with 13 aces. That strong performance was nothing new for the team: they've now served at least nine aces in seven consecutive contests.
Meanwhile, Badger hadn't done well against Grand Valley recently (they were 0-8 in their previous eight matchups), but they didn't let the past get in their way on Tuesday. Badger walked away with a 3-1 victory over Grand Valley. The win made it back-to-back victories for the Braves.
Badger had a slow start but a hot finish: after dropping the first set, they turned around to win the next three. The match finished with set scores of 18-25, 25-11, 25-14, 25-15.
Badger got their win on the backs of several key players, but it was Gabriella Miller out in front who had 19 digs, six kills, and two blocks. Miller is on a roll when it comes to digs, as she's now had ten or more in the last three games she's played dating back to last season. The team also got some help courtesy of Alison Price, who had 17 digs, 15 kills, and four aces.
Harding pushed their record up to 9-9 with the victory, which was their third straight at home. As for Badger, their win bumped their record up to 8-10.
Here's a few offensive stats to keep an eye on ahead of Thursday's game: Harding has really dialed in their serving this season, having averaged 14.6 aces per game. However, it's not like Badger struggles in that department as they've been averaging 8.6. Given these competing strengths, it'll be interesting to see how their clash plays out.
Harding might still be hurting after the 3-0 loss they got from Badger when the teams last played back in September. A big factor in that loss was the dominant performance of Miller, who had 16 digs, seven kills, and five blocks. Now that Harding knows the damage she can cause, will they be able to stop her this time? Check MaxPreps.com after the match to find out.
Article generated by infoSentience based on data entered on MaxPreps
