After both having extra time off, the Western Reserve Blue Devils and the Badger Braves will shake off the cobwebs and hit the court against one another at 5:00 p.m. on Thursday. Both come into the match bolstered by wins in their previous matches.
On Wednesday, Western Reserve got the win against Springfield by a conclusive 3-0.
Western Reserve never let Springfield on the board, but things got pretty close in the second set. Once all was said and done, the final score wound up at 25-18, 25-22, 25-20.
Meanwhile, Badger was able to grind out a solid victory over Bloomfield on Tuesday, taking the game 3-1.
Badger had a slow start but a hot finish: after dropping the first set, they turned around to win the next three. The match finished with set scores of 22-25, 25-15, 25-13, 25-19.
Badger's win came from a few key players Western Reserve will need to keep an eye on. One of the most notable was Sophia Sutton, who had 14 digs and seven aces. Those seven aces gave her a new career-high. Another player making a difference was Alison Price, who had 14 kills and 14 digs.
Badger was lethal from the service line and finished the match with 23 aces. That strong performance was nothing new for the team: they've now served at least 16 aces in three consecutive contests.
The win got Western Reserve back to even at 11-11. As for Badger, their victory was their fifth straight on the road, which pushed their record up to 13-9.
Here's a few offensive stats to keep an eye on ahead of Thursday's matchup: Western Reserve has really dialed in their serving this season, having averaged 10 aces per game. However, it's not like Badger struggles in that department as they've been averaging an even more impressive 14.6 aces. Given these competing strengths, it'll be interesting to see how their clash plays out.
Western Reserve beat Badger 3-1 when the teams last played back in October of 2020. One of the biggest obstacles trying to stand in the way of that victory was the Braves' Allyson Yauger, who had 28 digs. Now that she won't be playing on Thursday, will it be easier for the Blue Devils to walk away with another win? There's only one way to find out.
