The Centennial Bulldogs will head out on the road to take on the Shadow Ridge Mustangs at 6:00 p.m. on Wednesday. The two teams are sauntering into the matchup backed by comfortable wins in their prior games.
Centennial had to skate by with only a one-set margin when they last took the court, which might have inspired the three-set drubbing they dealt Cheyenne on Friday. The Bulldogs put the hurt on the Desert Shields with a sharp 3-0 win. The victory continues a trend for the Bulldogs in their matchups with the Desert Shields: they've now won five in a row.
While Centennial won a shutout, things came down to the wire in the first set they played. The match finished with set scores of 25-22, 25-13, 25-19.
Centennial can attribute much of their success to Ty Ahlstrom, who had 12 digs, and Josh Wagner, who had five digs and two aces. That's the most digs Ahlstrom has posted over his last 12 matches. Mau Tuiaana also deserves some recognition as he posted his first assist of the season.
They weren't the only good server: Centennial was lethal from the service line and finished the game with ten aces. That strong performance was nothing new for the team: they've now served at least five aces in 21 consecutive contests.
Meanwhile, Shadow Ridge had already won 11 in a row and they went ahead and made it 12 on Thursday. Everything went their way against the Gators as they made off with a 3-0 win.
Shadow Ridge's got stronger as the match went on, holding Green Valley to fewer and fewer points set over set. Once all was said and done, the final score wound up at 25-22, 25-20, 25-17.
Centennial pushed their record up to 22-8 with the victory, which was their third straight at home. As for Shadow Ridge, their record is now 20-3.
Centennial couldn't quite get it done against Shadow Ridge in their previous matchup back in March as they fell 3-1. Can the Bulldogs avenge their loss or is history doomed to repeat itself? We'll find out soon enough.
