The Heide Trask Titans will head out to square off against the East Duplin Panthers at 6:00 p.m. on Thursday. Both teams are coming into the matchup red-hot, with Heide Trask sitting on four straight victories and East Duplin on nine.
On Tuesday, Heide Trask made easy work of South Lenoir and carried off a 3-0 win.
Heide Trask walked away with the victory (and looked especially good in the third set). The final score came out to 25-20, 25-20, 25-13.
Meanwhile, East Duplin got the win against Southwest Onslow on Tuesday by a conclusive 3-0.
Not only was the match a shutout, it was a big one: East Duplin took every set by at least ten points. Once all was said and done, the final score wound up at 25-12, 25-13, 25-15.
East Duplin's win came from a few key players Heide Trask will need to keep an eye on. One of the most notable was Karsyn Parker, who had 12 aces and four digs. Those 12 aces gave her a new career-high. Another player making a difference was Lilliana Houston, who had five aces.
East Duplin was lethal from the service line and finished the match with 22 aces. That strong performance was nothing new for the team: they've now served at least ten aces in eight consecutive matches.
Heide Trask's record is now 12-4. As for East Duplin, their record now sits at 16-2.
Here's a few offensive stats to keep an eye on ahead of Thursday's contest: Heide Trask has really dialed in their serving this season, having averaged 10.7 aces per game. However, it's not like East Duplin struggles in that department as they've been averaging 13.6 aces. Given these competing strengths, it'll be interesting to see how their clash plays out.
Heide Trask suffered a grim 3-0 defeat to East Duplin in their previous meeting back in September. Can the Titans avenge their loss or is history doomed to repeat itself? We'll find out soon enough.
