In a battle to see who will play in the 2020 championship, Thursday’s semi-final between the Whipsnakes and Redwoods is a rematch of the 2019 championship.

The Whips are on a mission to repeat, winning all four of their group play games and doing so in dominant fashion. On the other side, the Redwoods are surging at the right time - winning their last three games.

The loser goes home, but the winner will be sitting pretty ahead of the Championship Game.

Breakdown

Last time out
In the first game of the tournament, the Whipsnakes took down the Redwoods 13-9, their first of four wins. 

These teams have plenty of history with each other and arguably know each other better than any other two squads. That sets up what could be one of the more intense matchups to date.

There’s a lot of intangibles that could negate some of the trends, especially in such a short tournament, but there’s a reason both teams have been on fire; they’ve earned this spot for a chance to play for the title game.

Major matchup
The Redwoods have made an identity as a two-point shooting club, leading the PLL with 10, five more than the next highest-ranking club.

They netted two of them the first time they faced the Whipsnakes, and against a team averaging more than 14 goals per game, they might need to kill two birds -- or, um, snakes -- with one stone more than once.