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much stronger debating opponent

Our team has managed to progress to the second round of the ESU mace debating competition. However, it seems we have been paired against an incredibly strong team.
I am not going to be giving names, but this school has won the competition once before, and came 2nd place last year. Whats worse is that the same team from last year is competing this year, and they are really good at debating.
I'm not sure yet whether the teams who progress to the next round are the ones that get the most points or the ones that beat their opponent, but I feel very worried and don't think we'll be able to even get close.

Any ideas on how to overcome this stress, or maybe get an edge on an opponent during a debate?