Notre Dame Academy and Assumption are an even 5-5 against one another since October of 2021, but not for long. The Notre Dame Academy Pandas will be playing at home against the Assumption Rockets at 7:30 p.m. on Tuesday.
Notre Dame Academy is probably headed into the contest with a chip on their shoulder considering Ursuline Academy just ended the team's 16-game winning streak on Thursday. They fell just short of the Lions by a score of 3-2. The defeat continues a trend for the Pandas in their matchups with the Lions: they've now lost seven in a row.
Notre Dame Academy took a 2-1 lead headed into the fourth set, but sadly they lost the next two. The final score came out to 17-25, 25-21, 24-26, 25-23, 15-10.
The losing side was boosted by Lacey Hostetler, who had 14 digs and three aces. That's the most aces she has posted since back in August.
Meanwhile, Assumption faced Mercy in a battle between two of the state's top teams on Thursday. Assumption walked away with a 3-1 win over Mercy. The victory was familiar territory for the Rockets who have now won three matchups in a row.
Assumption had a slow start but a hot finish: after dropping the first set, they turned around to win the next three. The match finished with set scores of 22-25, 25-18, 25-11, 25-20.
Kristen Simon was nothing short of spectacular: she had 28 digs. The team also got some help courtesy of Emily Keiran, who had 14 digs.
Notre Dame Academy's loss ended a seven-game streak of wins at home and dropped them to 25-3. As for Assumption, their win was their third straight on the road, which pushed their record up to 25-7.
Here's a few offensive stats to keep an eye on ahead of Tuesday's match: Notre Dame Academy has really dialed in their serving this season, having averaged 6.4 aces per game. However, it's not like Assumption struggles in that department as they've been averaging 7.2. Given these competing strengths, it'll be interesting to see how their clash plays out.
Notre Dame Academy beat Assumption 2-0 in their previous meeting on Saturday. Will Notre Dame Academy repeat their success, or does Assumption have a new game plan this time around? We'll find out soon enough.
Article generated by infoSentience based on data entered on MaxPreps
