The Hopkinton Hillers will head out to challenge the Ashland Clockers at 6:00 p.m. on Wednesday. Hopkinton is coming into the game hot, having won their last seven games.
Hopkinton is coming in fresh off a high-stakes matchup with another one of Massachusetts' top teams: Westwood, who was ranked 13th in their home state at the time (Hopkinton was ranked 12th). Hopkinton won by a set and slipped past Westwood 3-2.
The match was a true back-and-forth as no team won consecutive sets, but in the end it was Hopkinton who won the one that mattered. The match finished with set scores of 25-18, 16-25, 25-20, 19-25, 15-10.
Olivia Carrazza and Elsa Woodbury were among the main playmakers for Hopkinton as the former had 17 digs and three aces and the latter had 15 digs and nine kills. Woodbury is on a roll when it comes to kills, as she's now had seven or more in the last eight games she's played dating back to last season.
Hopkinton was lethal from the service line and finished the game with 14 aces. That strong performance was nothing new for the team: they've now served at least five aces in 19 consecutive matchups.
Meanwhile, Ashland narrowly escaped with a win as the squad sidled past Holliston 3-2. The victory made it back-to-back wins for the Clockers.
Ashland got the W, but it wasn't easy, at least in the second set. Once all was said and done, the final score wound up at 23-25, 31-29, 23-25, 25-15, 15-5.
Quinn Herter was a one-man wrecking crew for Ashland as she had 25 digs.
Hopkinton's victory was their eighth straight at home, which pushed their record up to 15-4. As for Ashland, they have been performing well recently as they've won three of their last four matches, which provided a nice bump to their 10-8 record this season.
Here's a few offensive stats to keep an eye on ahead of Wednesday's contest: Hopkinton has really dialed in their serving this season, having averaged 12.7 aces per game. However, it's not like Ashland struggles in that department as they've been averaging 11.9. Given these competing strengths, it'll be interesting to see how their clash plays out.
Everything went Hopkinton's way against Ashland in their previous meeting back in September, as Hopkinton made off with a 3-0 win. The rematch might be a little tougher for Hopkinton since the team 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
