The Cheyenne Mountain Red-Tailed Hawks will head out to challenge the Mullen Mustangs at 11:00 a.m. on Thursday. Both come into the matchup bolstered by wins in their previous matches.
Cheyenne Mountain is on a roll after a high-stakes playoff matchup on Saturday. They came out on top against Glenwood Springs by a score of 3-1. The victory made it back-to-back wins for the Red-Tailed Hawks.
Cheyenne Mountain was especially dominant in the first set. Once all was said and done, the final score wound up at 25-13, 22-25, 25-17, 25-19.
Meanwhile, Mullen narrowly escaped with a win as the team sidled past Timnath 3-2.
Mullen took Timnath into a fifth set where they got it done with a five-point win. The final score came out to 25-19, 25-21, 25-27, 22-25, 15-10.
Cheyenne Mountain better focus on containing Braylee Shatley and Cassandra Menke as the pair were huge in Mullen's win. Shatley had 31 digs and three assists, while Menke had 12 digs. Those 12 digs gave Menke a new career-high.
Mullen was lethal from the service line and finished the match with 11 aces. That strong performance was nothing new for the team: they've now served at least five aces in four consecutive matches.
Cheyenne Mountain's record now sits at 15-10. As for Mullen, their record is now 19-6.
Here's a few offensive stats to keep an eye on ahead of Thursday's contest: Cheyenne Mountain has really dialed in their serving this season, having averaged 8.6 aces per game. However, it's not like Mullen struggles in that department as they've been averaging 6.6 aces. Given these competing strengths, it'll be interesting to see how their clash plays out.
Cheyenne Mountain took their victory against Mullen when the teams last played back in October of 2023 by a conclusive 3-0 score. Will the Red-Tailed Hawks repeat their success, or do the Mustangs have a new game plan this time around? We'll find out soon enough.
