The Santa Fe Raiders will head out on the road to square off against the Merritt Island Mustangs at 7:00 p.m. on Wednesday. Each of these teams will be fighting to keep a win streak alive as Santa Fe comes in on five and Merritt Island on 21.
Santa Fe is on a roll after a high-stakes playoff matchup on Saturday. Everything went their way against Bishop Moore as they made off with a 3-0 victory.
While Santa Fe won a shutout, things came down to the wire in the second set they played. The final score came out to 25-21, 25-22, 25-18.
Meanwhile, Merritt Island made easy work of Satellite on Saturday and carried off a 3-0 win.
Merritt Island's got stronger as the match went on, holding Satellite to fewer and fewer points set over set. The match finished with set scores of 25-22, 25-19, 25-15.
Santa Fe better focus on containing Annabelle Jones and Khloe Horton as the pair were huge in Merritt Island's win. Jones had seven aces and four digs, while Horton had six digs and one assist. Those seven aces gave Jones a new career-high.
Merritt Island was lethal from the service line and finished the match with ten aces. That strong performance was nothing new for the team: they've now served at least five aces in 12 consecutive contests.
Santa Fe's record is now 20-9. As for Merritt Island, their record now sits at 27-2.
Here's a few offensive stats to keep an eye on ahead of Wednesday's match: Santa Fe has really dialed in their serving this season, having averaged 6.1 aces per game. However, it's not like Merritt Island struggles in that department as they've been averaging 8.8 aces. Given these competing strengths, it'll be interesting to see how their clash plays out.
Santa Fe might still be hurting after the 3-0 loss they got from Merritt Island when the teams last played back in October of 2024. Can the Raiders avenge their defeat or is history doomed to repeat itself? We'll find out soon enough.
