Crown Point has gone 9-1 against Valparaiso recently and they'll look to pad the win column further on Thursday. The Bulldogs are taking a road trip to take on the Vikings at 5:00 p.m.
Crown Point is coming in fresh off a high-stakes matchup with another one of Indiana's top teams: Chesterton, who was ranked 11th at the time (Crown Point was ranked fifth). The Bulldogs fell just short of the Trojans by a score of 3-2 on Tuesday.
Crown Point wouldn't go down easily and took Chesterton into a fifth set but they suffered a heartbreaking five-point loss. The final score came out to 25-22, 23-25, 12-25, 25-17, 15-10.
Bella Del Real
| 09/30/25 vs Chesterton | 27 |
| 09/27/25 vs Homestead | 22 |
| 09/27/25 vs Hamilton Southeastern | 26 |
| 09/27/25 vs Benton Central | 16 |
| 09/27/25 vs Morgan Township | 10 |
| + 6 more games |
Crown Point might have lost, but man, Bella Del Real was a machine: she had 27 digs and two aces. Del Real is on a roll when it comes to digs, as she's now had ten or more in each of the last 11 games she's played. Another player making a difference was Hayden Klimowicz, who had ten digs and two aces.
Meanwhile, Valparaiso posted their closest victory since September 13th on Tuesday. They skirted past Merrillville 3-2.
The match was a true back-and-forth as no team won consecutive sets, but in the end it was Valparaiso who won the one that mattered. The match finished with set scores of 25-10, 22-25, 25-11, 24-26, 15-8.
Crown Point better keep an eye on Abbi Brubaker. She was instrumental in Valparaiso's win, getting eight aces and six digs. Those eight aces gave Brubaker a new career-high.
Valparaiso was lethal from the service line and finished the match with 26 aces. That's the most aces they've managed all season.
Valparaiso's win was their third straight on the road, which pushed their record up to 16-12. As for Crown Point, their defeat was their first in the conference, dropping their conference record down to 10-1 and their overall record down to 23-3.
Here's a few offensive stats to keep an eye on ahead of Thursday's matchup: Crown Point hasn't let much over the net this season, having averaged 4.9 blocks per game. It's a different story for Valparaiso, though, as they've been averaging only 1 blocks. Given Crown Point's sizable advantage in that area, the Vikings will need to find a way to close that gap.
Crown Point took their victory against Valparaiso in their previous meeting back in September by a conclusive 3-0 score. The rematch might be a little tougher for the Bulldogs since the squad won't have the home-court advantage this time around. We'll see if the change in venue makes a difference.
