After both having extra time off, the Evergreen Vikings and the Genoa Area Comets will shake off the cobwebs and hit the court against one another at 7:30 p.m. on Thursday. The two teams are strolling into their matchups after big wins in their previous games.
Genoa Area will be up against a hot Evergreen team: the squad just extended their winning streak to five. The Vikings put the hurt on Toledo Christian with a sharp 3-0 win on Thursday.
The 3-0 score doesn't show just how dominant Evergreen was: they took every set by at least ten points. The match finished with set scores of 25-14, 25-15, 25-10.
Evergreen got their victory on the backs of several key players, but it was Ireland Smallman out in front who had ten digs.
Meanwhile, Genoa Area got the win against Fostoria on Thursday by a conclusive 3-0. The win continues a trend for the Comets in their matchups with the Redmen: they've now won four in a row.
Genoa Area not only won, but also showed off some consistency: they kept Fostoria between 15 and 16 points across their sets. The final score came out to 25-15, 25-16, 25-16.
Genoa Area's victory bumped their record up to 9-13. As for Evergreen, their win bumped their record up to 14-8.
Here's a few offensive stats to keep an eye on ahead of Thursday's contest: Evergreen has really dialed in their serving this season, having averaged 6.2 aces per game. However, it's not like Genoa Area struggles in that department as they've been averaging 8.5 aces. Given these competing strengths, it'll be interesting to see how their clash plays out.
Everything went Evergreen's way against Genoa Area when the teams last played back in September of 2015, as Evergreen made off with a 3-0 victory. The rematch might be a little tougher for the Vikings since the squad won't have the home-court advantage this time around. We'll see if the change in venue makes a difference.
