After both having extra time off, the Melissa Cardinals and the Texas Tigers will dust off their jerseys to square off against one another at 7:00 p.m. on Tuesday. Given that the two teams suffered a loss in their last game, they both have a little extra motivation heading into this game.
It was a proper cat-fight when Melissa faced off against Walnut Grove on Tuesday. Melissa fell 3-1 to Walnut Grove. While the Cardinals didn't get the win, they did start the game off strong, beating the Wildcats 25-19 in the first set.
Melissa was was forced to take the loss, but they sure made Walnut Grove work for it, especially in the fourth set. The match finished with set scores of 19-25, 25-21, 25-15, 27-25.
Meanwhile, Texas came up short against Hallsville on Tuesday, falling 3-0. The Tigers have struggled against the Bobcats recently, as the game was their fourth consecutive lost matchup.
Texas was held off the scoreboard, but that almost wasn't the case: they kept the first set very close. The final score came out to 25-22, 25-21, 25-21.
Melissa's defeat ended a four-game streak of wins at home and dropped them to 34-8. As for Texas, their loss ended a three-game streak of away wins and brought them to 26-15.
Here's a few offensive stats to keep an eye on ahead of Tuesday's contest: Melissa has really dialed in their serving this season, having averaged 5.8 aces per game. However, it's not like Texas struggles in that department as they've been averaging 5. Given these competing strengths, it'll be interesting to see how their clash plays out.
Melissa took their victory against Texas in their previous meeting back in November of 2023 by a conclusive 3-0. Will Melissa repeat their success, or does Texas have a new game plan this time around? We'll find out soon enough.
Article generated by infoSentience based on data entered on MaxPreps
