The Valley Vikings will square off against the Goddard Rockets at 10:00 a.m. on Thursday. Goddard took a loss in their last match and will be looking to turn the tables on Valley, who comes in off a win.
If Bernalillo wanted to avenge their loss from the last time they played Valley, they should've done a better job of containing Reese Villanueva. Valley was the clear victor by a 3-0 margin over Bernalillo on Friday thanks in part to Villanueva, who had 11 digs and six aces. Those six aces gave her a new career-high.
While Valley won a shutout, things came down to the wire in the first set they played. The match finished with set scores of 25-23, 25-16, 25-17.
Valley was lethal from the service line and finished the game with 12 aces. They easily outclassed their opponents in that department as Bernalillo only served five.
Meanwhile, after a string of four wins, Goddard's good fortune finally ran out on Thursday. They took a 3-1 hit to the loss column at the hands of Portales.
While Goddard ultimately came up short, they didn't go down without a fight: they scored at least 17 points in every set they played. Once all was said and done, the final score wound up at 25-23, 25-18, 20-25, 25-17.
Goddard's loss shouldn't obscure the performances of Viviana Varela, who had 27 digs, and Camille Holloway, who had six digs and 15 assists. With that strong performance, Varela is now averaging an impressive 11.1 digs per game.
Goddard's defeat dropped their record down to 12-11. As for Valley, the win made it two in a row for them and bumps their season record up to 14-9.
Here's a few offensive stats to keep an eye on ahead of Thursday's game: Valley has really dialed in their serving this season, having averaged 6.6 aces per game. However, it's not like Goddard struggles in that department as they've been averaging 7.6. Given these competing strengths, it'll be interesting to see how their clash plays out.
Valley might still be hurting after the 3-0 loss they got from Goddard in their previous matchup back in March of 2021. Can Valley avenge their defeat or is history doomed to repeat itself? We'll find out soon enough.
Article generated by infoSentience based on data entered on MaxPreps
