After six games on the road, McKeel Academy is heading back home. They will welcome the Lakeland Dreadnaughts at 7:00 p.m. on Thursday. McKeel Academy will be strutting in after a victory while Lakeland will be coming in after a loss.
Having struggled with three defeats in a row, McKeel Academy finally turned things around against Auburndale on Tuesday. They put the hurt on the Bloodhounds with a sharp 3-0 win.
Once all was said and done, the final score wound up at 25-11, 25-20, 25-16.
Among those leading the charge was Sofia Burke, who had seven digs and three aces.
Burke wasn't the only one working in the aces department: McKeel Academy was lethal from the service line and finished the game with ten aces. That's the most aces they've posted since last Tuesday.
Meanwhile, Lakeland didn't have quite enough to beat Lake Wales on Saturday and fell 2-1.
Lakeland came into the match hot and won the first set, but they struggled down the stretch and lost the last two. After all that action, the final score was 22-25, 25-20, 15-5.
Even though the team lost, they still had their share of impressive performances. One of the best came from Megan Rine, who had 21 digs. She is on a roll when it comes to digs, as she's now had four or more in the last 14 games she's played dating back to last season. The team also got some help courtesy of Melanie Bautista, who had 14 digs and three aces.
McKeel Academy's victory was their third straight on the road, which pushed their record up to 5-5. As for Lakeland, they now have a losing record at 4-5.
Here's a few offensive stats to keep an eye on ahead of Thursday's match: McKeel Academy has serving mastered this season, having averaged 7.1 aces per game. However, it's not like Lakeland 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.
McKeel Academy took their win against Lakeland when the teams last played back in September of 2023 by a conclusive 3-0. Does McKeel Academy have another victory up their sleeve, or will Lakeland turn the tables on them? We'll have the answer soon enough.
Article generated by infoSentience based on data entered on MaxPreps
