Fayetteville has gone 10-0 against Rogers recently and they'll look to pad the win column further on Thursday. The Fayetteville Bulldogs will be playing in front of their home fans against the Rogers Mountaineers at 6:30 p.m. Given that both suffered a loss in their last game, they both have a little extra motivation heading into this contest.
Fayetteville is coming in fresh off a high-stakes matchup with another one of Arkansas' top teams: Bentonville West, who was ranked 16th in their home state at the time (Fayetteville was ranked fifth). Fayetteville lost 3-0 to Bentonville West on Tuesday. The Bulldogs' defeat signaled the end of their five-game winning streak.
Fayetteville was was forced to take the loss, but they sure made Bentonville West work for it, especially in the third set. The match finished with set scores of 25-21, 25-19, 27-25.
Meanwhile, Rogers came up short against Northside on Tuesday and fell 3-1. The loss continues a trend for the Mountaineers in their matchups with the Grizzlies: they've now lost three in a row.
Rogers started the match hot and won the first set, but they struggled down the stretch and lost the last three. Once all was said and done, the final score wound up at 22-25, 25-23, 29-27, 25-21.
Fayetteville's defeat ended a seven-game streak of away wins dating back to last season and brought them to 12-4. As for Rogers, their loss dropped their record down to 6-20.
Here's a few offensive stats to keep an eye on ahead of Thursday's game: Fayetteville has really dialed in their serving this season, having averaged 9.7 aces per game. However, it's not like Rogers 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.
Fayetteville came out on top in a nail-biter against Rogers in their previous meeting back in September, sneaking past 3-2. Will Fayetteville repeat their success, or does Rogers have a new game plan this time around? We'll find out soon enough.
Article generated by infoSentience based on data entered on MaxPreps
