The Pompano Beach Golden Tornadoes will take on the St. Thomas Aquinas Raiders at 4:30 p.m. on Thursday. The two teams are strolling into their contests after big wins in their previous games.
Pompano Beach not only won on Wednesday, but they posted their biggest win since March 13th. They were the clear victors by a 3-0 margin over Fort Lauderdale.
Pompano Beach didn't let Fort Lauderdale take a single set, but it sure wasn't easy: every set was decided by three points or less. Once all was said and done, the final score wound up at 25-22, 25-22, 26-24.
Meanwhile, St. Thomas Aquinas had already won four in a row and they went ahead and made it five on Tuesday. They blew past the Paladins 3-0.
While St. Thomas Aquinas won a shutout, things came down to the wire in the third set they played. The match finished with set scores of 25-18, 25-14, 25-22.
Pompano Beach better focus on containing Elijah Lam and Adriano Chiabra as the pair were huge in St. Thomas Aquinas' win. Lam had four aces and three digs, while Chiabra had 19 assists and three digs. Chiabra has been hot, having posted 12 or more assists the last six times he's played.
St. Thomas Aquinas was lethal from the service line and finished the game with 16 aces. That strong performance was nothing new for the team: they've now served at least five aces in ten consecutive matches.
Pompano Beach now has a winning record of 8-7. As for St. Thomas Aquinas, they pushed their record up to 11-8 with the victory, which was their fourth straight on the road.
Here's a few offensive stats to keep an eye on ahead of Thursday's game: Pompano Beach hasn't let much over the net this season, having averaged 9.8 blocks per game. However, it's not like St. Thomas Aquinas struggles in that department as they've been averaging 4.9 blocks. Given these competing strengths, it'll be interesting to see how their clash plays out.
Pompano Beach beat St. Thomas Aquinas 3-1 in their previous matchup back in March of 2024. Will the Golden Tornadoes repeat their success, or do the Raiders have a new game plan this time around? We'll find out soon enough.
