Chico hasn't had much luck against Pleasant Valley recently, but that could start to change on Thursday. The Chico Panthers will venture away from home to take on the Pleasant Valley Vikings at 7:00 p.m. Given that both suffered a loss in their last game, they both have a little extra motivation heading into this game.
It was a proper cat-fight when Chico challenged Foothill on Tuesday. Chico lost 3-0 to Foothill. For those keeping track at home, that's the biggest loss the Panthers have suffered since September 19th.
Chico was held off the scoreboard, but that almost wasn't the case: they kept the second set very close. Once all was said and done, the final score wound up at 25-20, 28-26, 25-16.
Chico's defeat came about despite a quality game from Peyton Conway, who had nine digs and 14 assists.
Meanwhile, Pleasant Valley didn't have quite enough to beat Shasta on Tuesday and fell 3-2.
The 3-2 doesn't really show just how close this match was: all the sets Pleasant Valley lost were decided by three points or less. The match finished with set scores of 25-22, 11-25, 18-25, 26-24, 16-14.
Despite the loss, Pleasant Valley saw an underclassman step up: Kobi Sanchez had 26 digs and three aces. Those 26 digs set a new season-high mark for Sanchez.
Even though they lost, Pleasant Valley was lethal from the service line and finished the game with 12 aces. That strong performance was nothing new for the team: they've now served at least five aces in four consecutive contests.
Chico's defeat dropped their record down to 25-15. As for Pleasant Valley, their loss ended a five-game streak of away wins and brought them to 22-16.
Here's a few offensive stats to keep an eye on ahead of Thursday's match: Chico has really dialed in their serving this season, having averaged 10.5 aces per game. However, it's not like Pleasant Valley struggles in that department as they've been averaging 10. Given these competing strengths, it'll be interesting to see how their clash plays out.
Chico came up short against Pleasant Valley when the teams last played on October 8th, falling 3-1. A big factor in that loss was the dominant performance of Sanchez, who had 19 digs and six aces. Now that Chico knows the damage she can cause, will they be able to stop her this time? There's only one way to find out.
Article generated by infoSentience based on data entered on MaxPreps
