The Dunmore Bucks will take on the Western Wayne Wildcats at 5:00 p.m. on Thursday.
Dunmore is headed into the matchup having just suffered their biggest defeat since September 4th on Monday. They lost 3-0 to Abington Heights.
The match finished with set scores of 25-8, 25-21, 25-11.
Despite the loss, Dunmore saw an underclassman step up: sophomore Elena Piepoli had 20 digs.
Meanwhile, there's no place like home for Western Wayne, who bounced back after a loss on the road on Friday. They walked away with a 3-1 victory over Lakeland on Tuesday.
Western Wayne walked away with the win (and looked especially good in the fourth set). Once all was said and done, the final score wound up at 25-23, 23-25, 25-22, 25-15.
Dunmore better focus on containing Abbie Washine and Phoebe Schmitt as the pair were huge in Western Wayne's win. Washine had 44 assists, while Schmitt had six aces. Washine is on a roll when it comes to assists, as she's now posted 12 or more in each of the last 14 games she's played. Kyleigh Turner also deserves some recognition as she had her first dig of the season.
Western Wayne was lethal from the service line and finished the match with 14 aces. They are 10-5 when they serve at least ten aces.
Western Wayne's victory ended a three-match drought at home and bumped them up to 10-9. As for Dunmore, their defeat dropped their record down to 14-7-1.
Here's a few offensive stats to keep an eye on ahead of Thursday's contest: Dunmore has really dialed in their serving this season, having averaged 7 aces per game. However, it's not like Western Wayne struggles in that department as they've been averaging 15.2 aces. Given these competing strengths, it'll be interesting to see how their clash plays out.
Dunmore skirted past Western Wayne 3-2 in their previous meeting on October 2nd. Will the Bucks repeat their success, or do the Wildcats have a new game plan this time around? We'll find out soon enough.
