Avenal and Dos Palos are an even 5-5 against one another since September of 2019, but not for long. The Avenal Buccaneers will face off against the Dos Palos Broncos at 5:30 p.m. on Thursday. Each of these teams will be battling to keep a three-game winning streak alive.
Avenal is headed into the contest having just posted their biggest victory since September 17th on Tuesday. Everything went their way against Tranquillity as Avenal made off with a 3-0 win.
While Avenal won a shutout, things came down to the wire in the second set they played. The match finished with set scores of 25-19, 25-22, 25-21.
Avenal can attribute much of their success to Krista Martin, who had six aces, and Jordan Etchison, who had four aces. Martin is on a roll when it comes to aces, as she's now served five or more in the last three games she's played dating back to last season.
Avenal was lethal from the service line and finished the game with 19 aces. That strong performance was nothing new for the team: they've now served at least five aces in 11 consecutive matches.
Meanwhile, Dos Palos got the win against Firebaugh on Thursday by a conclusive 3-0.
Dos Palos never let Firebaugh on the board, but things got pretty close in the second set. Once all was said and done, the final score wound up at 25-15, 25-22, 25-13.
Dos Palos can attribute much of their success to Marissa Merrell, who had 20 kills, two aces, and a block, and Giselle Ornelas, who had five aces, three kills, and 12 assists. Those five aces gave Ornelas a new career-high.
Avenal has been performing well recently as they've won five of their last six games, which provided a massive bump to their 16-10 record this season. As for Dos Palos, their record is now 7-10-1.
Avenal was able to grind out a solid victory over Dos Palos in their previous meeting back in September, winning 3-1. One of the biggest obstacles the team faced in that game was Merrell, who had 24 kills. Now that she's got a second chance to win this matchup, will Avenal still be able to contain Merrell? There's only one way to find out.
Article generated by infoSentience based on data entered on MaxPreps
