After both having extra time off, the Shadow Mountain Matadors and the Thunderbird Titans will shake off the cobwebs and square off against one another at 6:00 p.m. on Monday. The squads are rolling into the game with opposing streaks: Shadow Mountain has struggled recently with three losses in a row, while Thunderbird will arrive with ten straight wins.
Last Wednesday, Shadow Mountain came up short against Greenway and fell 3-1. While the Matadors didn't get the win, they did start the game off strong, beating the Demons 25-19 in the first set.
Shadow Mountain started the match hot and won the first set, but they struggled down the stretch and lost the last three. The match finished with set scores of 19-25, 25-16, 25-23, 25-21.
Shadow Mountain's defeat shouldn't obscure the performances of Alix Ssenya, who had 12 kills, eight digs, three aces, and a block, and Ava Grossmiller, who had 11 digs and 29 assists. Ssenya is on a roll when it comes to aces, as she's now served two or more in the last four games she's played dating back to last season. The team also got some help courtesy of Megan Forbes, who had eight digs and five aces.
She wasn't the only good server: Shadow Mountain was lethal from the service line and finished the game with 13 aces. That strong performance was nothing new for the team: they've now served at least five aces in six consecutive games.
Meanwhile, Thunderbird was able to grind out a solid victory over North Canyon on Saturday, taking the game 2-0.
The 2-0 score doesn't show just how dominant Thunderbird was: they took both sets by at least 16 points. Once all was said and done, the final score wound up at 25-8, 25-9.
Shadow Mountain's loss dropped their record down to 7-9. As for Thunderbird, their win bumped their record up to 28-3.
Shadow Mountain might still be hurting after the 3-0 defeat they got from Thunderbird in their previous matchup back in September of 2023. Will Shadow Mountain have more luck at home instead of on the road? Check MaxPreps after the match for a full breakdown of the game, commentary, and other volleyball content.
Article generated by infoSentience based on data entered on MaxPreps
