Notre Dame hasn't had much luck against Clay-Battelle recently, but that could start to change on Monday. The Notre Dame Fighting Irish's road trip will continue as they head out to face the Clay-Battelle Cee Bees at 6:00 p.m. Both teams took a loss in their last game, so they'll have plenty of motivation to get the 'W'.
Notre Dame is probably headed into the game with a chip on their shoulder considering Trinity Christian just ended the team's six-game winning streak on Wednesday. They fell 3-1 to the Warriors. While the Fighting Irish didn't get the win, they did start the game off strong, beating the Warriors 25-23 in the first set.
Notre Dame started the match hot and won the first set, but they struggled down the stretch and lost the last three. The match finished with set scores of 23-25, 25-18, 25-15, 25-20.
The loss doesn't tell the whole story though, as several players had good games. One of the most active was Austyn Paugh, who had 19 digs, 14 kills, and 23 assists. She is on a roll when it comes to kills, as she's now had five or more in the last five games she's played. The team also got some help courtesy of Emily Besten, who had 25 digs and 14 kills.
Meanwhile, Clay-Battelle was not able to break out of their rough patch on Wednesday as the team picked up their seventh straight loss. They fell just short of Notre Dame by a score of 3-2. While the Cee Bees didn't get the win, they did start the game off strong, beating the Fighting Irish 25-14 in the first set.
Clay-Battelle started the match hot and won the first two sets, but they struggled down the stretch and lost the last three. The match finished with set scores of 14-25, 19-25, 25-16, 25-20, 15-13.
Even though they lost, Clay-Battelle was lethal from the service line and finished the game with 23 aces. That's the most aces they've posted since back in October of 2023.
Notre Dame's defeat dropped their record down to 23-7. As for Clay-Battelle, their loss dropped their record down to 18-13.
Here's a few offensive stats to keep an eye on ahead of Monday's matchup: Notre Dame has really dialed in their serving this season, having averaged 11.5 aces per game. However, it's not like Clay-Battelle struggles in that department as they've been averaging 10.5. Given these competing strengths, it'll be interesting to see how their clash plays out.
Notre Dame skirted past Clay-Battelle 3-2 in their previous matchup on Wednesday. Does Notre Dame have another victory up their sleeve, or will Clay-Battelle turn the tables on them? We'll have the answer soon enough.
Article generated by infoSentience based on data entered on MaxPreps
