Cumberland and Northwestern are an even 5-5 against one another since September of 2020, but not for long. The Cumberland Beavers will look to defend their home court on Tuesday against the Northwestern Tigers at 7:00 p.m. Cumberland is out to stop a eight-game streak of losses at home dating back to last season.
Having struggled with six defeats in a row, Cumberland finally turned things around against Ashland on Thursday. They put the hurt on the Oredockers with a sharp 3-0 win. The contest marked the Beavers' most dominant victory of the season.
A big factor in the win was Cumberland's feisty defense: they held Ashland to fewer and fewer points set over set. The match finished with set scores of 25-21, 25-17, 25-13.
Cumberland was lethal from the service line and finished the game with 13 aces. That strong performance was nothing new for the team: they've now served at least 11 aces in three consecutive matches.
Meanwhile, Northwestern was able to grind out a solid win over Hayward on Saturday, taking the game 2-0.
Northwestern never let Hayward on the board, but things got pretty close in the first set. Once all was said and done, the final score wound up at 25-23, 25-21.
Multiple players turned in solid performances to lead Northwestern to victory, but perhaps none more so than Addison Hanson, who had 12 digs. The team also got some help courtesy of Genna Kreuser, who had 11 digs.
Cumberland's victory bumped their record up to 9-16. As for Northwestern, they are on a roll lately: they've won ten of their last 12 games, which provided a massive bump to their 13-10 record this season.
Here's a few offensive stats to keep an eye on ahead of Tuesday's matchup: Cumberland has really dialed in their serving game this season, having averaged 8.5 aces per game. However, it's not like Northwestern struggles in that department as they've been averaging 6.7. Given these competing strengths, it'll be interesting to see how their clash plays out.
Cumberland came up short against Northwestern in their previous matchup last Saturday, falling 2-0. Will Cumberland 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
