Highland has gone a perfect 10-0 against River Valley recently and they'll look to pad the win column further on Monday. The Fighting Scots will look to defend their home court against the Vikings at 6:00 p.m. After the two teams made easy work of their previous opponents, one won't be so lucky on Monday.
Highland is on a roll after a high-stakes playoff matchup on Wednesday. Everything went their way against Marion-Franklin as they made off with a 3-0 victory. The win made it back-to-back victories for the Fighting Scots.
Not only was the match a shutout, it was a big one: Highland took every set by at least 20 points. The final score came out to 25-5, 25-5, 25-5.
MaKaylee Merckling
| 10/15/25 vs Marion-Franklin | 10 |
| 10/31/24 vs Shelby | 6 |
| 10/19/24 vs Horizon Science Academy | 5 |
| 10/02/25 @ Ontario | 4 |
| 09/06/25 vs Buckeye Valley | 4 |
MaKaylee Merckling had an outrageously good game as she had ten aces and seven digs. Those ten aces gave her a new career-high.
They weren't the only good servers: Highland was lethal from the service line and finished the match with 31 aces. That strong performance was nothing new for the team: they've now served at least six aces in eight consecutive matchups.
Meanwhile, there's no place like home for River Valley, who bounced back after a loss on the road last Thursday. They blew past Eastmoor Academy 3-0 on Wednesday.
The 3-0 score doesn't show just how dominant River Valley was: they took every set by at least 11 points. Once all was said and done, the final score wound up at 25-10, 25-14, 25-10.
Highland better keep an eye on Arianna Osborne. She was instrumental in River Valley's win, getting 11 digs and three aces. Osborne is on a roll when it comes to digs, as she's now had 11 or more in each of the last four games she's played. Gwen Butler also deserves some recognition as she had her first kill of the season.
River Valley's win bumped their record up to 12-10. As for Highland, their victory bumped their record up to 16-7.
Here's a few offensive stats to keep an eye on ahead of Monday's match: Highland has really dialed in their serving this season, having averaged 9.9 aces per game. However, it's not like River Valley struggles in that department as they've been averaging 6.8 aces. Given these competing strengths, it'll be interesting to see how their clash plays out.
Highland was able to grind out a solid win over River Valley in their previous matchup back in September, winning 3-1. Do the Fighting Scots have another victory up their sleeve, or will the Vikings turn the tables on them? We'll have the answer soon enough.
