The Coronado Cougars will square off against the Basic Wolves at 6:00 p.m. on Friday. Given that the two teams suffered a loss in their last games, they both have a little extra motivation heading into this match.
Coronado is coming in fresh off a high-stakes matchup with another one of Nevada's top teams: Palo Verde, who was ranked second at the time (Coronado was ranked seventh). The Cougars took a 3-1 hit to the loss column at the hands of the Panthers on Tuesday. The Cougars have now taken an 'L' in back-to-back matches.
While Coronado had to settle for second, they sure made a game of it, scoring at least 18 points in every set they played. Once all was said and done, the final score wound up at 25-18, 25-19, 17-25, 25-22.
Meanwhile, in Tuesday's Canine Competition, Basic had to take the L. They fell just short of Centennial by a score of 3-2 on Tuesday. While the Wolves didn't get the win, they did start the game off strong, beating the Bulldogs 25-21 in the first set.
Basic took a 2-1 lead headed into the fourth set, but sadly they lost the next two. The final score came out to 21-25, 25-22, 19-25, 25-18, 15-7.
Basic's loss dropped their record down to 19-8. As for Coronado, their defeat dropped their record down to 10-12.
Here's a few offensive stats to keep an eye on ahead of Friday's contest: Coronado hasn't let much over the net this season, having averaged 4.2 blocks per game. It's a different story for Basic, though, as they've been averaging only 0.8 blocks. Given Coronado's sizable advantage in that area, the Wolves will need to find a way to close that gap.
Coronado was able to grind out a solid victory over Basic when the teams last played back in March of 2024, winning 2-0. Will the Cougars repeat their success, or do the Wolves have a new game plan this time around? We'll find out soon enough.
