Sutherland is on a five-game streak of home wins (dating back to last season), while St. Mary is on a 16-game streak of away wins (also dating back to last season): one of those streaks is about to end. The Sutherland Knights will take on the St. Mary's Lancers at 7:00 p.m. on Tuesday.
Sutherland is coming in fresh off a high-stakes matchup with another highly-ranked state team: Southington, who was ranked fourth at the time (Sutherland was ranked seventh). Sutherland fell 2-0 to Southington on Saturday. The matchup marked the first time this year in which the Knights were not able to get on the board.
Sutherland was not able to win a set, but it sure wasn't from a lack of trying: every set was decided by three points or less. The match finished with set scores of 26-24, 25-22.
Meanwhile, St. Mary's got the win against Cardinal O'Hara on Monday by a conclusive 3-0.
The 3-0 score doesn't show just how dominant St. Mary's was: they took every set by at least 18 points. Once all was said and done, the final score wound up at 25-3, 25-7, 25-7.
St. Mary's had a senior duo take command as Ella Dovey had nine aces and Meredith Valone had five aces. The dominant performance gave Valone a new career-high in aces.
St. Mary's was lethal from the service line and finished the game with 31 aces. That strong performance was nothing new for the team: they've now served at least five aces in six consecutive games.
Sutherland's loss dropped their record down to 9-2-1. As for St. Mary's, their victory bumped their record up to 17-0.
Sutherland might still be hurting after the 3-0 defeat they got from St. Mary's in their previous matchup back in October of 2023. Will Sutherland have more luck at home instead of on the road? Check MaxPreps after the match for a full breakdown of the game, commentary, and other volleyball content.
Article generated by infoSentience based on data entered on MaxPreps
