Padua Franciscan has been away from home for two games now, but on Thursday they'll finally make their return. After both having extra time off, they and the Gilmour Academy Lancers will dust off their jerseys to challenge one another at 7:30 p.m.
Padua Franciscan is on a roll after a high-stakes playoff matchup on Thursday. They narrowly escaped with a victory as the squad sidled past Bay 3-2.
It was an exciting match in which no team won back-to-back sets, but at the end of the day Padua Franciscan got the one that really mattered. The final score came out to 25-22, 20-25, 27-25, 27-29, 15-12.
Padua Franciscan found their leader in sophomore Cathryn Ruggiero, who had 15 digs and two aces. Those 15 digs set a new season-high mark for Ruggiero. The team also got some help courtesy of Giulia Reginelli, who had 32 digs and a kill.
Meanwhile, Gilmour Academy had already won four in a row and they went ahead and made it five on Thursday. Everything went their way against the Cardinals as they made off with a 3-0 win.
Gilmour Academy was especially dominant in the first set. The match finished with set scores of 25-10, 25-17, 25-17.
Multiple players turned in solid performances to lead Gilmour Academy to victory, but perhaps none more so than Ella Jackson, who had six digs, four aces, and two kills. Jackson has been hot recently, having posted two or more aces the last three times she's played. Marlie Davis was another key player, getting 15 kills, six digs, two aces, and a block.
Gilmour Academy was lethal from the service line and finished the game with 18 aces. That strong performance was nothing new for the team: they've now served at least seven aces in 14 consecutive contests.
Padua Franciscan has been performing well recently as they've won ten of their last 13 matches, which provided a nice bump to their 13-12 record this season. As for Gilmour Academy, they pushed their record up to 20-4 with the victory, which was their fifth straight at home.
Here's a few offensive stats to keep an eye on ahead of Thursday's matchup: Padua Franciscan has really dialed in their serving this season, having averaged 6.8 aces per game. However, it's not like Gilmour Academy struggles in that department as they've been averaging 9.7. Given these competing strengths, it'll be interesting to see how their clash plays out.
Padua Franciscan might still be hurting after the 3-0 loss they got from Gilmour Academy when the teams last played back in September of 2022. Will Padua Franciscan have more luck at home instead of on the road? Check MaxPreps after the action for a full breakdown of the game and more volleyball content.
Article generated by infoSentience based on data entered on MaxPreps
