North Smithfield and Tolman are an even 4-4 against one another since October of 2014, but not for long. The North Smithfield Northmen will play host again on Thursday to welcome the Tolman Tigers, where is scheduled at 6:30 p.m. The two teams are sauntering into the matchup backed by comfortable wins in their prior games.
North Smithfield is coming in fresh off a high-stakes matchup with another one of Rhode Island's top teams: Pilgrim, who was ranked 23rd in their home state at the time (North Smithfield was ranked fifth). North Smithfield blew past Pilgrim 3-0 on Monday.
Once all was said and done, the final score wound up at 25-4, 26-24, 25-13.
North Smithfield got their win on the backs of several key players, but it was Grace Alecksiewicz out in front who had five digs and ten assists.
North Smithfield was lethal from the service line and finished the game with 17 aces. That strong performance was nothing new for the team: they've now served at least 14 aces in three consecutive contests.
Meanwhile, everything went Tolman's way against Johnston on Tuesday as Tolman made off with a 3-0 victory. The win made it back-to-back victories for the Tigers.
The 3-0 doesn't show just how dominant Tolman was: they took every set by at least nine points. After all that action, the final score was 25-10, 25-13, 25-16.
Tolman had a senior duo take command as Davina Kodua had ten aces, five kills, and a block and Mary Adeniyi had seven aces, six kills, and five digs. Kodua is also on a roll when it comes to assists, as she's now posted eight or more in the last 15 games she's played dating back to last season.
North Smithfield's win bumped their record up to 3-0. As for Tolman, their victory was their fifth straight at home dating back to last season, which pushed their record up to 2-1.
Here's a few offensive stats to keep an eye on ahead of Thursday's match: North Smithfield has serving mastered this season, having averaged 16.7 aces per game. However, it's not like Tolman struggles in that department as they've been averaging 16. Given these competing strengths, it'll be interesting to see how their clash plays out.
North Smithfield skirted past Tolman 3-2 when the teams last played back in October of 2017. Does North Smithfield have another victory up their sleeve, or will Tolman turn the tables on them? We'll have the answer soon enough.
Article generated by infoSentience based on data entered on MaxPreps
