Its mid-January but the women's volleyball Match of the Week is extremely important in the standings as the COTR Avalanche host the Douglas Royals on Friday and Saturday.
This will be the final time these two match up this regular season with just two points separating them in the standings. An Avalanche sweep would catapult them from sixth place into fourth.
The Avs have been on a role winning three straight after a sweep of Capilano last weekend. Kelsey Thompson was outstanding leading her club to the sweep and winning the Athlete of the Week honours. She sits third in the Conference with 173 kills and has compiled 191 total offensive points. As a matter of fact, she is the lone Avalanche in the top 15.
Other than Thompson the Avalanche will look to get her teammates involved early, including Ari Benwell and Taylor Forster who each have tallied over 60 kills. They will have to play important roles in order for them to give the Royals a competitive match. When these two clubs played on Halloween weekend, the Avs saw 27 kills from Thompson and 40 by the rest of the roster combined.
The Royals obviously will try and counter Thompson and make the rest of the Avs try and beat them. At the net the Royals will use Autumn Davdison, Georgia Hurry, Courtney Wilson and Darby Dunn in rotation to plug any potential holes. All four players have at least 19 blocks each. When a ball does get through Claudia Corneil has done a nice job to dig.
Offensively the Royals have been led by Juliana Penner and her 145 kills and 181 total offensive points. Like the Avs, the Royals have only Penner on the top 15 offensive points list and will need secondary scoring to be competitive. Hurry and Dunn will be two of the players relied upon to record that scoring.
The Avs will use the blocking skills of Kennedy Koop and Forster to slowdown the Royals and give their backcourt time to get to a loose ball. Alexa Koshman has been one of the best in the Conference with 213 digs.
This should be a very close and competitive match up with so much on the line. The Royals currently have the tie-break advantage winning the first meeting on Halloween. The Avs (5-9) will look to use their currently momentum when they host the Royals (6-6) on Friday (6:00pm) and Saturday (1:00pm).
Credit: Ryan Watters - PACWEST website