The Liberty Ranch Hawks will head out on the road to square off against the Escalon Cougars at 6:00 p.m. on Tuesday. The two teams are sauntering into the matchup backed by comfortable wins in their prior games.
Last Tuesday, Liberty Ranch got the win against Galt by a conclusive 3-0.
Liberty Ranch not only won, but also showed off some consistency: they kept Galt between 16 and 18 points across their sets. The match finished with set scores of 25-18, 25-16, 25-17.
Liberty Ranch can attribute much of their success to Maritza Arevalo, who had 13 assists and seven digs.
Meanwhile, there's no place like home for Escalon, who bounced back after a loss on the road on Tuesday. They put the hurt on Orestimba with a sharp 3-0 win on Thursday. The Cougars not only won on Thursday, but they posted their biggest win since September 30th (when they won 3-0).
Once all was said and done, the final score wound up at 25-13, 25-19, 25-14.
Escalon's win came from a few key players Liberty Ranch will need to keep an eye on. One of the most notable was Emma Rangel, who had ten digs and three assists. That's the most assists she has posted since back in September.
Escalon was lethal from the service line and finished the match with 13 aces. They are 7-3 when they serve at least ten aces.
Escalon's victory ended a three-match drought at home and bumped them up to 13-15. As for Liberty Ranch, their record is now 14-15.
Here's a few offensive stats to keep an eye on ahead of Tuesday's matchup: Liberty Ranch has really dialed in their serving this season, having averaged 5.7 aces per game. However, it's not like Escalon struggles in that department as they've been averaging 8.6 aces. Given these competing strengths, it'll be interesting to see how their clash plays out.
Liberty Ranch skirted past Escalon 2-1 in their previous matchup back in October of 2017. Do the Hawks have another victory up their sleeve, or will the Cougars turn the tables on them? We'll have the answer soon enough.
