After both having extra time off, the Cedarburg Bulldogs and the Homestead Highlanders will shake off the cobwebs and hit the court against one another at 7:00 p.m. on Thursday. Cedarburg will be looking to extend their current eight-game winning streak.
Cedarburg is headed into the match having just posted their closest victory since August 30th on Tuesday. They had just enough and edged out Grafton 3-2.
Cedarburg had a slow start but a hot finish: after dropping the first two sets, they turned around to win the next three. Once all was said and done, the final score wound up at 23-25, 20-25, 25-13, 25-17, 18-16.
Emme Marshall and Claire Vanden Berg were among the main playmakers for Cedarburg as the former had 12 digs and the latter had 12 digs. That's the most digs Vanden Berg has posted since back in September of 2024.
Meanwhile, Homestead sure made it a nail-biter, but they managed to escape with a 3-2 win over West Bend East on Thursday. The victory continues a trend for the Highlanders in their matchups with the Suns: they've now won three in a row.
Homestead wouldn't go down easily and took West Bend East into a fifth set where they got it done with a three-point win. The final score came out to 22-25, 25-22, 25-16, 23-25, 15-12.
Cedarburg better focus on containing Lauren Fitzgibbon and Kennedy Klueger as the pair were huge in Homestead's win. Fitzgibbon had 15 digs and one assist, while Klueger had 14 digs and one assist. Klueger has been hot recently, having posted ten or more digs the last three times she's played.
Homestead was lethal from the service line and finished the match with 14 aces. That strong performance was nothing new for the team: they've now served at least five aces in 12 consecutive matchups.
Homestead's win bumped their record up to 18-11. As for Cedarburg, their victory bumped their record up to 26-10.
Here's a few offensive stats to keep an eye on ahead of Thursday's contest: Cedarburg has really dialed in their serving this season, having averaged 8 aces per game. However, it's not like Homestead struggles in that department as they've been averaging an even more impressive 8.7 aces. Given these competing strengths, it'll be interesting to see how their clash plays out.
Cedarburg was able to grind out a solid win over Homestead in their previous matchup back in September, winning 3-1. Will the Bulldogs repeat their success, or do the Highlanders have a new game plan this time around? We'll find out soon enough.
