The Mission Bay Buccaneers will face off against the Mira Mesa Marauders at 5:30 p.m. on Thursday. The teams are rolling into the game with opposing streaks: Mission Bay has struggled recently with four defeats in a row, while Mira Mesa will arrive with three straight victories.
On Tuesday, Mission Bay came up short against University City and fell 3-1.
Mission Bay was was forced to take the loss, but they sure made University City work for it, especially in the fourth set. Once all was said and done, the final score wound up at 25-19, 23-25, 25-22, 26-24.
Despite the loss, Mission Bay had strong showings from Zeth Abelman, who had 33 digs and two aces, and Henry Gildehaus, who had six digs and three aces.
Meanwhile, Mira Mesa had just enough and edged out High Tech SD 3-2 on Tuesday.
Mira Mesa had a slow start but a hot finish: after dropping the first two sets, they turned around to win the next three. The match finished with set scores of 20-25, 23-25, 25-23, 25-14, 15-13.
Mission Bay better keep an eye on Nathan Montemayor. He was instrumental in Mira Mesa's win, getting 18 assists and six digs. That's the most assists Montemayor has posted over his last six contests. Jaden Cao also deserves some recognition as he had his first blocks of the season.
Mission Bay's defeat dropped their record down to 15-10. As for Mira Mesa, their win bumped their record up to 14-11.
Mission Bay was able to grind out a solid victory over Mira Mesa when the teams last played back in April, winning 3-1. Do the Buccaneers have another victory up their sleeve, or will the Marauders turn the tables on them? We'll have the answer soon enough.