Mater Dei is on a nine-game streak of home wins (dating back to last season), while Columbia is on a seven-game streak of away wins (also dating back to last season): one of those streaks is about to end. The Mater Dei Knights will host the Columbia Eagles at 7:00 p.m. on Wednesday. Both come into the match bolstered by wins in their previous matches.
Mater Dei is coming in fresh off a high-stakes matchup with another highly-ranked state team: Incarnate Word Academy, who was ranked 19th at the time (Mater Dei was ranked second). Mater Dei came out on top against Incarnate Word Academy by a score of 3-1 on Thursday.
Mater Dei walked away with the win (and looked especially good in the third set). The match finished with set scores of 25-19, 23-25, 25-13, 25-17.
Mater Dei's success was spearheaded by the efforts of Ava Lampe, who had six digs and three aces, and Abby Kuhl, who had five digs and two aces. That's the most aces Lampe has posted in her last 13 contests.
Mater Dei was lethal from the service line and finished the game with ten aces. That's the most aces they've managed all season.
Meanwhile, Columbia narrowly escaped with a victory as the squad sidled past Belleville West 2-1.
The match was a true back-and-forth as no team won consecutive sets, but in the end it was Columbia who won the one that mattered. Once all was said and done, the final score wound up at 25-20, 19-25, 25-17.
Mater Dei's win bumped their record up to 17-1. As for Columbia, they have been performing incredibly well recently as they've won 14 of their last 15 games, which provided a nice bump to their 19-3 record this season.
Mater Dei was able to grind out a solid victory over Columbia in their previous meeting back in October of 2023, winning 2-0. Does Mater Dei have another victory up their sleeve, or will Columbia turn the tables on them? We'll have the answer soon enough.
Article generated by infoSentience based on data entered on MaxPreps
