Appleton East has been away from home for seven games now, but on Thursday they'll finally make their return. After both having extra time off, they and the Hortonville Polar Bears will shake off the cobwebs and square off against one another at 7:00 p.m. Considering both teams were shutout in their prior games, the pair is probably coming into this one with something to prove.
Appleton East lost 3-0 to Neenah on Thursday. The loss continues a trend for the Patriots in their matchups with the Rockets: they've now lost five in a row.
Appleton East was not held off the scoreboard, but that almost wasn't the case: they kept the first set very close. Once all was said and done, the final score wound up at 25-16, 25-22, 25-19.
Meanwhile, Hortonville was not able to break out of their rough patch on Thursday as the team picked up their fifth straight defeat. They lost 3-0 to Kaukauna.
While Hortonville was kept off the board, it wasn't for a lack of trying: they cut into Kaukauna's winning margin in every set. The match finished with set scores of 25-13, 25-19, 25-21.
Even though they lost, Hortonville was lethal from the service line and finished the game with ten aces. That's the most aces they've posted since back in August.
Appleton East's loss dropped their record down to 6-13. As for Hortonville, their defeat dropped their record down to 3-10.
Here's a few offensive stats to keep an eye on ahead of Thursday's matchup: Appleton East has serving mastered this season, having averaged 6.3 aces per game. However, it's not like Hortonville struggles in that department as they've been averaging 6.2. Given these competing strengths, it'll be interesting to see how their clash plays out.
Appleton East beat Hortonville 2-0 in their previous matchup last Saturday. Does Appleton East have another victory up their sleeve, or will Hortonville turn the tables on them? We'll have the answer soon enough.
Article generated by infoSentience based on data entered on MaxPreps
