The Merritt Island Mustangs will challenge the Santa Fe Raiders at 2:00 p.m. on Saturday. Merritt Island will be looking to keep their 13-game home win streak dating back to last season alive.
Merritt Island is on a roll after a high-stakes playoff matchup on Wednesday. They put the hurt on Tavares with a sharp 3-0 win.
The final score came out to 25-13, 25-18, 25-14.
Merritt Island got their victory on the backs of several key players, but it was Amber Ives out in front who had five aces. Those five aces gave Ives a new career-high.
Merritt Island was lethal from the service line and finished the game with 15 aces. That strong performance was nothing new for the team: they've now served at least seven aces in four consecutive matches.
Santa Fe extended their winning streak to three games thanks to a huge performance from Gracyn Marshall. Santa Fe walked away with a 3-1 win over Satellite on Wednesday thanks in part to Marshall, who had 17 digs, five kills, and three aces. Ives is also on a roll when it comes to aces, as she's now served three or more in the last three games she's played.
Santa Fe had a slow start but a hot finish: after dropping the first set, they turned around to win the next three. The match finished with set scores of 17-25, 25-11, 25-15, 25-14.
Santa Fe relied on the efforts of Morgan Lawson, who had five digs and two aces, and Karlee Noah, who had 24 digs, four aces, and a kill.
Merritt Island is on a roll lately: they've won 14 of their last 16 games, which provided a nice bump to their 22-5 record this season. As for Santa Fe, their victory bumped their record up to 20-7.
Here's a few offensive stats to keep an eye on ahead of Saturday's matchup: Merritt Island has really dialed in their serving this season, having averaged 8.4 aces per game. However, it's not like Santa Fe struggles in that department as they've been averaging 7.2. Given these competing strengths, it'll be interesting to see how their clash plays out.
Merritt Island suffered a grim 3-0 defeat to Santa Fe in their previous meeting back in September of 2021. Thankfully for Merritt Island, Jalyn Stout (who had 15 digs, 12 kills, three blocks, and two aces) won't be suiting up this time. Will that be enough to change the final result? There's only one way to find out.
Article generated by infoSentience based on data entered on MaxPreps
