The Niles West Wolves will head out on the road to square off against the Highland Park Giants at 5:00 p.m. on Wednesday.
Niles West is coming in fresh off a high-stakes matchup with another one of Illinois' top teams: Maine West, who was ranked 13th at the time (Niles West was ranked 23rd). The Wolves fell just short of the Warriors by a score of 2-1 on Monday. While the Wolves didn't get the win, they did start the game off strong, beating the Warriors 25-20 in the first set.
Niles West started the match hot and won the first set, but they struggled down the stretch and lost the last two. Once all was said and done, the final score wound up at 20-25, 25-14, 25-23.
Meanwhile, Highland Park hadn't done well against Vernon Hills recently (they were 2-7 in their previous nine matchups), but they didn't let the past get in their way on Monday. The Giants narrowly escaped with a win as the squad sidled past the Cougars 2-1. The victory continues a trend for the Giants in their matchups with the Cougars: they've now won three in a row.
It was an exciting match in which no team won back-to-back sets, but at the end of the day Highland Park got the one that really mattered. The final score came out to 25-13, 22-25, 25-20.
Niles West dropped their record down to 15-7 with the defeat, which was their third straight on the road. As for Highland Park, their win bumped their record up to 17-9.
Niles West skirted past Highland Park 2-1 in their previous meeting back in April. The rematch might be a little tougher for the Wolves since the team won't have the home-court advantage this time around. We'll see if the change in venue makes a difference.
Article generated by infoSentience based on data entered on MaxPreps
