Gardiner has been on the road for two straight, but on Friday they'll finally head home. They will host the Messalonskee Eagles at 5:30 p.m. Gardiner will be strutting in after a victory while Messalonskee will be coming in after a defeat.
Last Wednesday, Gardiner earned a 3-1 win over Nokomis.
Gardiner was especially dominant in the first set. The match finished with set scores of 25-11, 21-25, 25-19, 25-18.
Meanwhile, Messalonskee was not able to break out of their rough patch on Wednesday as the team picked up their third straight loss. They fell just short of Cony by a score of 3-2.
Messalonskee took a 2-1 lead headed into the fourth set, but sadly they lost the next two. The final score came out to 26-24, 16-25, 23-25, 25-16, 15-8.
Defeat or not, Messalonskee got some senior leadership from Sofia Derosby and Anastacia Grier. Derosby had 55 digs, while Grier had 12 digs, five aces, and five aces. Those 55 digs set a new season-high mark for Derosby. The team also got some help courtesy of Jada Forney, who had 15 digs and five aces.
Even though they lost, Messalonskee kept the net locked down and finished the game with 16 blocks. That strong performance was nothing new for the team: they've now had at least eight blocks in 20 consecutive matches dating back to last season.
Gardiner's victory was their fourth straight on the road, which pushed their record up to 6-1. As for Messalonskee, their loss dropped their record down to 1-3.
Gardiner might still be hurting after the 3-0 defeat they got from Messalonskee in their previous meeting back in September of 2023. Thankfully for Gardiner, Elise McDonald (who had five aces, four digs, a kill, and a kill) won't be suiting up this time. Will that be enough to change the final result? There's only one way to find out.
Article generated by infoSentience based on data entered on MaxPreps
