Elmwood-Murdock is 1-9 against Lincoln Lutheran since September of 2014 but they'll have a chance to close the gap a little bit on Thursday. The Elmwood-Murdock Knights will challenge the Lincoln Lutheran Warriors at 5:00 p.m. Both come into the contest bolstered by wins in their previous matches.
Elmwood-Murdock took a loss when they played away from home on Saturday, but their home fans gave them all the motivation they needed on Tuesday. They came out on top against Falls City by a score of 3-1.
Once all was said and done, the final score wound up at 26-24, 23-25, 27-25, 25-12.
Elmwood-Murdock can attribute much of their success to Brooke Goudie, who had eight aces and five digs, and Zoe Zierott, who had 14 digs and four aces. Zierott is on a roll when it comes to digs, as she's now had five or more in the last seven games she's played dating back to last season. Another player making a difference was Rylie Gordon, who had ten digs.
Elmwood-Murdock was lethal from the service line and finished the game with 15 aces. They easily outclassed their opponents in that department as Falls City only served five.
Meanwhile, Lincoln Lutheran had already won three in a row, and they went ahead and made it four on Tuesday. They were the clear victor by a 3-0 margin over the Crusaders.
The 3-0 doesn't show just how dominant Lincoln Lutheran was: they took every set by at least 12 points. Once all was said and done, the final score wound up at 25-9, 25-8, 25-13.
Elmwood-Murdock's record is now 3-4. As for Lincoln Lutheran, they pushed their record up to 4-1 with that win, which was their seventh straight on the road dating back to last season.
Here's a few offensive stats to keep an eye on ahead of Thursday's match: Elmwood-Murdock has serving mastered this season, having averaged 6.9 aces per game. However, it's not like Lincoln Lutheran struggles in that department as they've been averaging 7.2. Given these competing strengths, it'll be interesting to see how their clash plays out.
Elmwood-Murdock came up short against Lincoln Lutheran in their previous meeting back in November of 2023, falling 3-1. Can Elmwood-Murdock avenge their loss or is history doomed to repeat itself? We'll find out soon enough.
Article generated by infoSentience based on data entered on MaxPreps
