The Bishop Neumann Cavaliers will head out on the road to face off against the Scotus Shamrocks at 7:00 p.m. on Thursday. Bishop Neumann has a tough task ahead: they'll enter the match with three straight losses, while Scotus will come in with four straight victories.
Last Tuesday, Bishop Neumann didn't have quite enough to beat Norfolk Catholic and fell 3-2. While the Cavaliers didn't get the win, they did start the game off strong, beating the Knights 26-24 in the first set.
Bishop Neumann started the match hot and won the first two sets, but they struggled down the stretch and lost the last three. The match finished with set scores of 24-26, 20-25, 25-18, 26-24, 15-3.
Despite the defeat, Bishop Neumann had strong showings from Nicole Blum, who had 15 digs, and Brooke Thiele, who had 15 kills, ten digs, and three aces. Thiele has been hot recently, having posted six or more kills the last 21 times she's played.
Even though they lost, Bishop Neumann was lethal from the service line and finished the game with 11 aces. This was only their first loss (out of three games) when they serve at least ten aces.
Meanwhile, Scotus hadn't done well against Bishop Neumann recently (they were 2-7 in their previous nine matchups), but they didn't let the past get in their way on Saturday. Scotus came out on top against Bishop Neumann by a score of 2-0.
Scotus' not only won, but also showed off some consistency: keeping Bishop Neumann between 17 and 19 points across their sets. The final score came out to 25-17, 25-19.
Scotus got their win on the backs of several key players, but it was Brooke Krienke out in front who had seven digs and two aces.
Bishop Neumann's loss dropped their record down to 18-11. As for Scotus, they are on a roll lately: they've won seven of their last eight games, which provided a nice bump to their 23-5 record this season.
Here's a few offensive stats to keep an eye on ahead of Thursday's contest: Bishop Neumann has really dialed in their serving this season, having averaged 5.3 aces per game. However, it's not like Scotus 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.
Bishop Neumann came up short against Scotus in their previous meeting on Saturday, falling 2-0. Can Bishop Neumann avenge their defeat or is history doomed to repeat itself? We'll find out soon enough.
Article generated by infoSentience based on data entered on MaxPreps
