After both having extra time off, the Shoals Jug Rox and the Orleans Bulldogs will shake off the cobwebs and challenge one another at 7:30 p.m. on Thursday. Orleans took a loss in their last contest and will be looking to turn the tables on Shoals, who comes in off a win.
Shoals will bounce into Thursday's game after beating Bloomfield, who they had gone 2-7 against in their nine prior meetings. Shoals skirted past Bloomfield 3-2.
Shoals wouldn't go down easily and took Bloomfield into a fifth set where they got it done with a two-point win. The final score came out to 25-11, 25-12, 20-25, 25-27, 15-13.
Shoals was lethal from the service line and finished the game with 12 aces. That strong performance was nothing new for the team: they've now served at least five aces in 14 consecutive matches.
Meanwhile, Orleans didn't have quite enough to beat Borden on Thursday and fell 3-2. The Bulldogs haven't had much luck with the Braves recently, as the team's come up short the last three times they've met.
Orleans took a 2-1 lead headed into the fourth set, but sadly they lost the next two. The match finished with set scores of 25-15, 20-25, 22-25, 25-15, 17-15.
Shoals is on a roll lately: they've won four of their last five matchups, which provided a nice bump to their 18-15 record this season. As for Orleans, their loss dropped their record down to 18-12.
Here's a few offensive stats to keep an eye on ahead of Thursday's contest: Shoals has really dialed in their serving this season, having averaged 7.8 aces per game. However, it's not like Orleans struggles in that department as they've been averaging 6.8. Given these competing strengths, it'll be interesting to see how their clash plays out.
Shoals took their victory against Orleans in their previous matchup on Tuesday by a conclusive 3-0. The rematch might be a little tougher for Shoals 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
