Herculaneum is 9-0 against St. Paul Lutheran since August of 2015, and they'll have a chance to extend that success on Wednesday. The Herculaneum Black Cats will be playing in front of their home fans against the St. Paul Lutheran Giants at 5:30 p.m.
On Tuesday, Herculaneum didn't have quite enough to beat Crystal City and fell 3-2.
Herculaneum took a 2-1 lead headed into the fourth set, but sadly they lost the next two. The match finished with set scores of 25-20, 21-25, 20-25, 25-23, 16-14.
Despite the loss, Herculaneum got top-tier performance from Jojo Lawson, who had 16 digs and three aces.
She wasn't the only good server: Herculaneum was lethal from the service line and finished the game with 13 aces. That's the most aces they've posted in their last eight games.
Meanwhile, St. Paul Lutheran got the win against Kingston on Monday by a conclusive 3-0. For those keeping track at home, that's the biggest victory the Giants have posted against the Cougars since September 20, 2021.
One reason for the win was St. Paul Lutheran's dynamic defense, which allowed fewer and fewer points in every set they played. Once all was said and done, the final score wound up at 25-21, 25-16, 25-14.
Herculaneum now has a losing record at 8-9-1. As for St. Paul Lutheran, they have been performing well recently as they've won three of their last four matches, which provided a massive bump to their 5-9-2 record this season.
Here's a few offensive stats to keep an eye on ahead of Wednesday's matchup: Herculaneum has really dialed in their serving game this season, having averaged 7.6 aces per game. However, it's not like St. Paul Lutheran struggles in that department as they've been averaging 10.2. Given these competing strengths, it'll be interesting to see how their clash plays out.
Everything went Herculaneum's way against St. Paul Lutheran when the teams last played back in September of 2023, as Herculaneum made off with a 3-0 win. Will Herculaneum repeat their success, or does St. Paul Lutheran have a new game plan this time around? We'll find out soon enough.
Article generated by infoSentience based on data entered on MaxPreps
