Topsail and New Hanover are an even 5-5 against one another since September of 2021, but not for long. The Topsail Pirates will be playing at home against the New Hanover Wildcats at 6:00 p.m. on Monday. The teams are on pretty different trajectories at the moment (Topsail has 11 straight victories, New Hanover has four straight defeats), but none of that matters once you're on the court.
Topsail will bounce into Monday's contest after beating Ashley, who they had gone 2-7 against in their nine prior meetings. Topsail came out on top against Ashley by a score of 3-1 on Thursday.
Topsail walked away with the win (and looked especially good in the first set). The final score came out to 25-7, 23-25, 25-18, 25-18.
Topsail got their victory on the backs of several key players, but it was Hannah Losey out in front who had 12 digs, a kill, and 43 assists. Losey is on a roll when it comes to assists, as she's now posted 17 or more in the last seven games she's played. The team also got some help courtesy of Ryan Lambert, who had 23 kills and 13 digs.
Topsail was lethal from the service line and finished the game with 11 aces. That strong performance was nothing new for the team: they've now served at least seven aces in 20 consecutive matchups.
Meanwhile, New Hanover came up short against West Brunswick on Thursday and fell 3-1. While the Wildcats didn't get the win, they did start the game off strong, beating the Trojans 25-21 in the first set.
New Hanover started the match hot and won the first set, but they struggled down the stretch and lost the last three. The match finished with set scores of 21-25, 26-24, 25-20, 26-24.
Topsail's win was their tenth straight on the road, which pushed their record up to 19-1. As for New Hanover, their loss dropped their record down to 2-19.
Here's a few offensive stats to keep an eye on ahead of Monday's game: Topsail has really dialed in their serving this season, having averaged 12.6 aces per game. However, it's not like New Hanover struggles in that department as they've been averaging 10.1. Given these competing strengths, it'll be interesting to see how their clash plays out.
Topsail took their victory against New Hanover in their previous matchup back in September by a conclusive 3-0. Does Topsail have another victory up their sleeve, or will New Hanover turn the tables on them? We'll have the answer soon enough.
Article generated by infoSentience based on data entered on MaxPreps
