The Caruthers Blue Raiders will take on the East Bakersfield Blades at 6:00 p.m. on Thursday. The two teams each escaped (but just barely!) with wins against their previous opponents.
Caruthers is on a roll after a high-stakes playoff matchup on Tuesday. They had just enough and edged out Roosevelt 3-2. The victory was a breath of fresh air for the Blue Raiders as it put an end to their five-match losing streak.
If you add up the scores from across all five sets (104-97) Caruthers actually scored fewer points, but in the end it didn't matter. Once all was said and done, the final score wound up at 25-20, 13-25, 19-25, 25-22, 15-12.
East Bakersfield won the last time they faced Chavez and Kaylie Demison did her part to make sure it happened again. The Blades sure made it a nail-biter, but they managed to escape with a 3-2 win over the Titans on Tuesday for which the team can thank Demison, who had 42 digs and three aces. She has been hot for a while, having posted ten or more digs the last 17 times she's played.
East Bakersfield was staring down a 2-1 deficit headed into the fourth set, but they rallied to take the next two for the win. The final score came out to 23-25, 25-22, 10-25, 25-11, 15-13.
Caruthers better focus on containing Emma Baltazar and Brisa Castro as the pair were huge in East Bakersfield's win. Baltazar had 13 digs and four aces, while Castro had 12 digs. That's the most digs Baltazar has posted since back in October of 2024.
East Bakersfield was lethal from the service line and finished the match with 15 aces. That strong performance was nothing new for the team: they've now served at least ten aces in four consecutive contests.
East Bakersfield's victory bumped their record up to 17-9-1. As for Caruthers, the win got them back to even at 16-16.
