Effingham hasn't had much luck against Taylorville recently, but that could start to change on Thursday. The Effingham Hearts will head out to challenge the Taylorville Tornadoes at 7:00 p.m. Both come into the game bolstered by wins in their previous matches.
Effingham took a loss when they played away from home last Tuesday, but their home fans gave them all the motivation they needed on Thursday. They came out on top against Mattoon by a score of 2-0.
Effingham easily took the first set, but they let things get interesting in the other. The final score came out to 25-13, 25-17.
Effingham can attribute much of their success to Alyssa Martin, who had eight digs and two aces. That's the most aces Martin has posted in her last eight matchups.
Effingham was lethal from the service line and finished the game with 12 aces. They easily outclassed their opponents in that department as Mattoon only served four.
Meanwhile, Taylorville was able to grind out a solid victory over Centennial on Saturday, taking the game 2-0.
The 2-0 score doesn't show just how dominant Taylorville was: they took both sets by at least 11 points. The match finished with set scores of 25-12, 25-14.
Taylorville's win was the result of several impressive offensive performances. One of the most notable came from Samantha Breckenridge, who had six digs, three kills, and 22 assists. Breckenridge is on a roll when it comes to assists, as she's now posted 13 or more in the last four games she's played. The team also got some help courtesy of Alyana Vincent, who had eight kills, four digs, and two aces.
Effingham has been performing incredibly well recently as they've won eight of their last nine matches, which provided a nice bump to their 13-5 record this season. As for Taylorville, their win bumped their record up to 14-5.
Here's a few offensive stats to keep an eye on ahead of Thursday's contest: Effingham has really dialed in their serving this season, having averaged 7.3 aces per game. However, it's not like Taylorville struggles in that department as they've been averaging 5.2. Given these competing strengths, it'll be interesting to see how their clash plays out.
Effingham came up short against Taylorville in their previous meeting back in September, falling 2-0. Can Effingham avenge their defeat or is history doomed to repeat itself? We'll find out soon enough.
Article generated by infoSentience based on data entered on MaxPreps
