The Liberty Patriots will head out on the road to face off against the Faith Lutheran Crusaders at 6:00 p.m. on Monday. Each of these teams will be fighting to keep a win streak alive as Liberty comes in on four and Faith Lutheran on five.
Liberty is coming in fresh off a high-stakes matchup with another one of Nevada's top teams: Silverado, who was ranked 22nd at the time (Liberty was ranked sixth). The Patriots put the hurt on the Skyhawks with a sharp 3-0 win on Wednesday.
Liberty never let Silverado on the board, but things got pretty close in the second set. The final score came out to 25-15, 25-23, 25-20.
Liberty got their victory on the backs of several key players, but it was ARYANNA PAREDES out in front who had 13 digs.
The home team had come away the winner the last four times Faith Lutheran and Centennial had met, but sadly for the fans who attended this one that wasn't the case. The Crusaders walked away with a 3-1 win over the Bulldogs last Thursday.
While Faith Lutheran might've won, it sure wasn't easy: Centennial scored at least 18 points in every set they played. Once all was said and done, the final score wound up at 25-18, 25-18, 17-25, 25-19.
Liberty better keep an eye on K Sawyer. She was instrumental in Faith Lutheran's win, getting nine digs and five aces. Those five aces gave Sawyer a new career-high.
Faith Lutheran was lethal from the service line and finished the match with ten aces. That strong performance was nothing new for the team: they've now served at least five aces in five consecutive matches.
Liberty's record is now 24-9. As for Faith Lutheran, their record now sits at 21-14.
Here's a few offensive stats to keep an eye on ahead of Monday's contest: Liberty has really dialed in their serving this season, having averaged 4.2 aces per game. However, it's not like Faith Lutheran struggles in that department as they've been averaging 8.1 aces. Given these competing strengths, it'll be interesting to see how their clash plays out.
Liberty might still be hurting after the 3-0 defeat they got from Faith Lutheran in their previous meeting back in August of 2018. Can the Patriots avenge their loss or is history doomed to repeat itself? We'll find out soon enough.