After both having extra time off, the Ardrey Kell Knights and the Covenant Day Lions will shake off the cobwebs and hit the court against one another at 5:30 p.m. on Tuesday.
Ardrey Kell is coming in fresh off a high-stakes matchup with another highly-ranked state team: Legion Collegiate Academy, who was ranked 13th in their home state at the time (Ardrey Kell was ranked 17th). The Knights fell 3-1 to the Lancers last Thursday. That makes it the first time this season the Knights have let down their home crowd.
Ardrey Kell 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, 25-19, 25-23, 25-21.
Cullen Lemoine
| 04/10/25 vs Legion Collegiate Academy | 14 |
| 04/08/25 @ Weddington | 13 |
| 04/03/25 vs East Mecklenburg | 13 |
Despite the loss, Ardrey Kell saw an underclassman step up: sophomore Cullen Lemoine had 14 digs and two aces. Lemoine is on a roll when it comes to digs, as he's now had 13 or more in each of the last three games he's played.
Meanwhile, Covenant Day hadn't done well against Marvin Ridge recently (they were 0-3 in their previous three matchups), but they didn't let the past get in their way on Tuesday. The Lions narrowly escaped with a victory as the team sidled past the Mavericks 3-2.
Covenant Day had a slow start but a hot finish: after dropping the first two sets, they turned around to win the next three. Once all was said and done, the final score wound up at 22-25, 15-25, 25-16, 25-21, 15-8.
Covenant Day's win came from a few key players Ardrey Kell will need to keep an eye on. One of the most notable was Jack Lapp, who had eight digs and four aces. Those eight digs gave him a new career-high. The team also got some help courtesy of Ben Keefer, who had 51 assists and seven digs.
This is the second loss in a row for Ardrey Kell and nudges their season record down to 9-2. As for Covenant Day, their win bumped their record up to 8-2.
Here's a few offensive stats to keep an eye on ahead of Tuesday's match: Ardrey Kell has really dialed in their serving this season, having averaged 10.2 aces per game. However, it's not like Covenant Day struggles in that department as they've been averaging 10.1 aces. Given these competing strengths, it'll be interesting to see how their clash plays out. Come back here after the game to get an analysis of the match and other volleyball content.
