The Wilder Wildcats will challenge the North Star Huskies at 7:00 p.m. on Thursday. The timing is sure in Wilder's favor as the squad sits on five straight wins at home (dating back to last season) while North Star has been banged up by three consecutive losses on the road.
Last Thursday, Wilder made easy work of Notus and carried off a 3-0 victory.
Wilder never let Notus on the board, but things got pretty close in the second set. The match finished with set scores of 25-14, 27-25, 25-15.
Wilder can attribute much of their success to Nancy Ramirez, who had ten digs, seven aces, and three kills, and Natalie Escutia, who had 12 kills, eight digs, and three aces. That's the most aces Escutia has posted in her last nine matches. Kenia Morales was another key player, getting eight digs, two kills, two aces, and a block.
She wasn't the only good server: Wilder was lethal from the service line and finished the game with 21 aces. That strong performance was nothing new for the team: they've now served at least seven aces in 26 consecutive contests dating back to last season.
Meanwhile, North Star earned a 3-1 win over Centennial Baptist on Monday.
The final score came out to 25-21, 23-25, 25-15, 25-12.
Grace Escobar and Jaycee Miller were among the main playmakers for North Star as the former had 11 aces, a kill, and 17 assists and the latter had seven aces and six kills.
Wilder's victory bumped their record up to 8-1. As for North Star, their win bumped their record up to 4-8.
Here's a few offensive stats to keep an eye on ahead of Thursday's game: Wilder has really dialed in their serving game this season, having averaged 16.4 aces per game. However, it's not like North Star struggles in that department as they've been averaging 16.2. Given these competing strengths, it'll be interesting to see how their clash plays out.
Wilder took their victory against North Star in their previous meeting back in September by a conclusive 3-0. Will Wilder repeat their success, or does North Star have a new game plan this time around? We'll find out soon enough.
Article generated by infoSentience based on data entered on MaxPreps
