Palmetto is 1-9 against Lakewood Ranch since September of 2015 but they'll have a chance to close the gap a little bit on Thursday. The Tigers will host the Mustangs at 7:00 p.m.
Palmetto is headed into the contest having just suffered their biggest defeat since September 2nd on Tuesday. They lost 3-0 to Southeast.
While Palmetto ultimately came up short, they really made Southeast work, particularly in the second set. The match finished with set scores of 25-19, 26-24, 25-23.
Meanwhile, Lakewood Ranch entered their tilt with Parrish Community on Tuesday with three consecutive wins but they'll enter their next game with four. They came within a single set of losing the streak, but they secured a 3-2 W against the Bulls.
Lakewood Ranch was staring down a 2-1 deficit headed into the fourth set, but they rallied to take the next two for the win. Once all was said and done, the final score wound up at 26-28, 25-19, 15-25, 25-19, 23-21.
Palmetto better focus on containing Juliana Neri and Adalynn Lund as the pair were huge in Lakewood Ranch's win. Neri had 35 kills, while Lund had 15 digs, ten kills, two aces, and one block. With that strong performance, Lund is now averaging an impressive 10.1 digs per game. Hayden Zimmerman was another key player, getting 12 digs and one assist.
Lakewood Ranch was lethal from the service line and finished the match with 13 aces. That's the most aces they've posted since back in September of 2024.
Lakewood Ranch's win bumped their record up to 16-8. As for Palmetto, their loss dropped their record down to 13-9.
Palmetto suffered a grim 3-0 defeat to Lakewood Ranch when the teams last played back in September. Will the Tigers have more luck at home instead of on the road? Check back here after the action for a full breakdown and analysis of the contest.