Westminster is a perfect 3-0 against Kell since August of 2023 and they'll have a chance to extend that dominance on Thursday. After both having extra time off, the two teams will shake off the rust and duke it out at 6:00 p.m. Westminster is coming into the contest hot, having won their last eight games.
On Wednesday, Westminster sure made it a nail-biter, but they managed to escape with a 3-2 victory over Walker.
Westminster was staring down a 2-1 deficit headed into the fourth set, but they rallied to take the next two for the win. The match finished with set scores of 18-25, 25-17, 22-25, 25-18, 15-10.
Sophia Bonadies
| 10/01/25 vs Walker | 8 |
| 08/16/25 vs Wesleyan | 6 |
| 08/16/25 @ Brookwood | 4 |
| 10/08/24 @ Hillgrove | 4 |
| 08/23/25 vs South Effingham | 3 |
Westminster relied on the efforts of Sophia Bonadies, who had 24 digs and four aces, and Kiran Chen, who had ten digs and five aces. The dominant performance also gave Bonadies a new career-high in assists (eight).
They weren't the only good servers: Westminster was lethal from the service line and finished the match with 18 aces. That strong performance was nothing new for the team: they've now served at least eight aces in three consecutive matchups.
Meanwhile, Kell suffered their biggest defeat since September 4th on Thursday. They came up short against Harrison, falling 3-0.
Kell was held off the scoreboard, but that almost wasn't the case: they kept the third set very close. The final score came out to 25-17, 25-15, 25-23.
Westminster will have to keep a close watch on Haylee Boyle and Rilee Wells, a pair of players who had a big impact on Kell's prior game. Boyle had seven digs and two aces, while Wells had ten digs. Rowen Melvin also deserves some recognition as she had her first kill of the season.
Westminster's win bumped their record up to 33-9. As for Kell, their loss dropped their record down to 21-18.
Here's a few offensive stats to keep an eye on ahead of Thursday's match: Westminster has really dialed in their serving this season, having averaged 7.7 aces per game. However, it's not like Kell struggles in that department as they've been averaging 5.5 aces. Given these competing strengths, it'll be interesting to see how their clash plays out.
Everything went Westminster's way against Kell in their previous meeting back in August, as Westminster made off with a 3-0 victory. Will the Wildcats repeat their success, or do the Longhorns have a new game plan this time around? We'll find out soon enough.
