After both having extra time off, the St. Joseph Academy Jaguars and the Mentor Cardinals will dust off their jerseys to face off against one another at 7:00 p.m. on Thursday. Both teams are coming into the game red-hot, with St. Joseph Academy sitting on six straight victories and Mentor on three.
St. Joseph Academy is on a roll after a high-stakes playoff matchup on Thursday. Everything went their way against Stow-Munroe Falls as St. Joseph Academy made off with a 3-0 win.
The victory didn't come easy: Stow-Munroe Falls scored at least 16 points in every set. The match finished with set scores of 25-14, 25-16, 25-15.
Meanwhile, Mentor narrowly escaped with a win as the team sidled past Strongsville 3-2.
The match was a true back-and-forth as no team won consecutive sets, but in the end it was Mentor who won the one that mattered. Once all was said and done, the final score wound up at 25-15, 21-25, 25-20, 20-25, 15-13.
Mentor's victory was a true team effort, with many players turning in solid performances. Perhaps the best among them was Abby Ferritto, who had seven digs and 21 assists. The team also got some help courtesy of Riley Hoynes, who had 16 digs.
St. Joseph Academy has been performing well recently as they've won 11 of their last 14 matches, which provided a nice bump to their 16-8 record this season. As for Mentor, they pushed their record up to 18-6 with the win, which was their eighth straight at home.
Here's a few offensive stats to keep an eye on ahead of Thursday's matchup: St. Joseph Academy has really dialed in their serving this season, having averaged 8.3 aces per game. However, it's not like Mentor struggles in that department as they've been averaging 11.8. Given these competing strengths, it'll be interesting to see how their clash plays out.
St. Joseph Academy took their victory against Mentor in their previous meeting back in November of 2023 by a conclusive 3-0. Will St. Joseph Academy repeat their success, or does Mentor have a new game plan this time around? We'll find out soon enough.
Article generated by infoSentience based on data entered on MaxPreps
