The Hillcrest Knights will square off against the Skyline Grizzlies at 7:00 p.m. on Tuesday. Given that the two teams suffered a loss in their last games, they both have a little extra motivation heading into this contest.
Hillcrest is coming in fresh off a high-stakes matchup with another one of Idaho's top teams: Shelley, who was ranked fourth at the time (Hillcrest was ranked ninth). The Knights fell 3-1 to the Russets on Thursday. That makes it the first time this season the Knights have let down their home crowd.
The final score came out to 25-19, 25-17, 21-25, 25-14.
Ali Maddux
| 10/02/25 vs Shelley | 19 |
| 09/30/25 vs Bonneville | 21 |
| 09/25/25 @ Blackfoot | 34 |
| 09/23/25 @ Shelley | 32 |
| 09/20/25 vs Madison | 11 |
| + 2 more games |
Even though the team lost, they still had their share of impressive performances. One of the best came from Ali Maddux, who had 19 digs and two assists. She is on a roll when it comes to digs, as she's now had 11 or more in each of the last seven games she's played.
Meanwhile, Skyline suffered their biggest defeat since September 18th on Tuesday. They came up short against Blackfoot, falling 3-0. The loss continues a trend for the Grizzlies in their meetings with the Broncos: they've now lost four in a row.
The match came down to the wire multiple times:two sets needed extra rallies to declare a winner. The match finished with set scores of 25-19, 26-24, 28-26.
Despite the defeat, Skyline saw an underclassman step up: sophomore Leila Molifua had 16 digs and three assists.
Skyline's loss dropped their record down to 9-15. As for Hillcrest, their defeat dropped their record down to 18-5.
Here's a few offensive stats to keep an eye on ahead of Tuesday's match: Hillcrest has really dialed in their serving this season, having averaged 6.6 aces per game. However, it's not like Skyline struggles in that department as they've been averaging 5.2 aces. Given these competing strengths, it'll be interesting to see how their clash plays out.
Hillcrest took their win against Skyline when the teams last played back in September by a conclusive 3-0 score. Will the Knights repeat their success, or do the Grizzlies have a new game plan this time around? We'll find out soon enough.
