Southwestern has enjoyed a four-game homestand but will soon have to dust off their road jerseys. They and the South Ripley Raiders are set to duel on Thursday. Both come into the match bolstered by wins in their previous matches.
On Tuesday, Southwestern was able to grind out a solid win over New Washington, taking the game 3-1.
Southwestern had a slow start but a hot finish: after dropping the first set, they turned around to win the next three. The match finished with set scores of 20-25, 25-13, 25-17, 25-13.
Among those leading the charge was Kaylee Hite, who had ten digs and two aces. The dominant performance gave her a new career-high in aces.
Southwestern was lethal from the service line and finished the game with 17 aces. That strong performance was nothing new for the team: they've now served at least five aces in seven consecutive contests.
Meanwhile, South Ripley got the win against Milan on Monday by a conclusive 3-0. The victory made it back-to-back wins for the Raiders.
South Ripley never let Milan on the board, but things got pretty close in the third set. The match finished with set scores of 25-15, 25-14, 25-23.
Southwestern has been performing well recently as they've won five of their last six games, which provided a nice bump to their 14-9 record this season. As for South Ripley, they now have a winning record of 13-12.
Here's a few offensive stats to keep an eye on ahead of Thursday's matchup: Southwestern has really dialed in their serving this season, having averaged 8.9 aces per game. However, it's not like South Ripley struggles in that department as they've been averaging 9.2. Given these competing strengths, it'll be interesting to see how their clash plays out.
Southwestern might still be hurting after the 3-0 loss they got from South Ripley when the teams last played back in October of 2023. Can Southwestern avenge their defeat or is history doomed to repeat itself? We'll find out soon enough.
Article generated by infoSentience based on data entered on MaxPreps
