The Thunder Basin Bolts will be staying on the road on Thursday to face off against the Star Valley Braves at 9:30 p.m.
Thunder Basin is coming in fresh off a high-stakes matchup with another one of Wyoming's top teams: Laramie, who was ranked first in their home state at the time (Thunder Basin was ranked fifth). Thunder Basin lost 3-0 to Laramie on Saturday. The Bolts haven't had much luck with the Plainsmen recently, as the team's come up short the last four times they've met.
While Thunder Basin had to settle for second, they sure made a game of it, scoring at least 18 points in every set they played. Once all was said and done, the final score wound up at 25-20, 25-18, 25-19.
Star Valley had won two straight games and Camryn Mackey did her part to make it three on Saturday. Star Valley skirted past Jackson Hole 3-2 thanks in part to Mackey, who had 15 digs and two aces. She is on a roll when it comes to digs, as she's now had ten or more in the last nine games she's played.
If you add up the scores from across all five sets (104-101) Star Valley actually scored fewer points, but in the end it didn't matter. The match finished with set scores of 17-25, 25-20, 18-25, 26-24, 15-10.
Star Valley was lethal from the service line and finished the game with 11 aces. The team's really been improving in that area: they've now improved their ace total in three consecutive matchups.
Star Valley has been performing well recently as they've won four of their last five games, which provided a nice bump to their 17-21 record this season. As for Thunder Basin, the defeat snapped their winning streak at seven games and leaves them with a 24-5 record.
Here's a few offensive stats to keep an eye on ahead of Thursday's match: Thunder Basin has really dialed in their serving this season, having averaged 7.4 aces per game. However, it's not like Star Valley struggles in that department as they've been averaging 5.6. Given these competing strengths, it'll be interesting to see how their clash plays out.
Thunder Basin was able to grind out a solid victory over Star Valley in their previous matchup back in August, winning 2-0. Does Thunder Basin have another victory up their sleeve, or will Star Valley turn the tables on them? We'll have the answer soon enough.
Article generated by infoSentience based on data entered on MaxPreps
