After five games on the road, Badger is heading back home. They will host the Harding Skippers at 7:00 p.m. on Thursday. Both come into the match bolstered by wins in their previous matches.
Badger will bounce into Thursday's contest after beating Grand Valley, who they hadn't topped in eight consecutive meetings. Badger came out on top against Grand Valley by a score of 3-1 on Tuesday.
Badger had a slow start but a hot finish: after dropping the first set, they turned around to win the next three. The match finished with set scores of 18-25, 25-11, 25-14, 25-15.
Badger's win was a true team effort, with many players turning in solid performances. Perhaps the best among them was Gabriella Miller, who had 19 digs, six kills, and two blocks. Miller is on a roll when it comes to digs, as she's now had ten or more in the last three games she's played dating back to last season. The team also got some help courtesy of Alison Price, who had 17 digs, 15 kills, and four aces.
Meanwhile, Harding earned a 3-1 victory over Mathews on Saturday.
The final score came out to 25-21, 23-25, 25-19, 25-21.
Ashlie Kastl was a one-man wrecking crew for Harding as she had 14 digs and four aces. That's the most aces Kastl has posted in her last nine matchups.
Harding was lethal from the service line and finished the game with 13 aces. That strong performance was nothing new for the team: they've now served at least nine aces in seven consecutive games.
Badger's win bumped their record up to 8-10. As for Harding, their victory was their third straight at home, which pushed their record up to 9-9.
Here's a few offensive stats to keep an eye on ahead of Thursday's match: Badger has really dialed in their serving this season, having averaged 8.6 aces per game. However, it's not like Harding struggles in that department as they've been averaging 14.6. Given these competing strengths, it'll be interesting to see how their clash plays out.
Badger took their win against Harding in their previous meeting back in September by a conclusive 3-0. Does Badger have another victory up their sleeve, or will Harding turn the tables on them? We'll have the answer soon enough.
Article generated by infoSentience based on data entered on MaxPreps
