Campbellsville University opened its home volleyball season Monday with a 3-0 victory over Cumberland University (25-9, 25-21, 26-24). The Tigers led the entire first set, going on a nine-point run to close out the game, 25-9. However, play became exciting the next two sets.
Cumberland bounced back for the second set, building a 10-5 lead early. Just as the Lady Tigers pulled close, the Bulldogs would maintain their lead until
Renee Netherton tied the set, 18-18, with a kill. She had five kills in the set and eight in the match. Both teams traded points to keep the set tied, 21-21, before a ball handling error on Cumberland started a four-point run for the Tigers.
Shannon Cahill put the set away on game point, 25-21.
In the third set, play continued to volley back-and-forth, but the Tigers pulled ahead with a 23-19 lead. But before the Tiger could put the game away, Cumberland rallied to take the lead, 25-24. After a timeout by Tiger head coach
Randy LeBleu, the Tigers scored three unanswered points, capped off with a kill by Marcum on match point.
"It's nice to be home in front of our crowd," LeBleu said. "We came out on fire, but I think we laid back a little bit and let them get their legs underneath them and we had to come back and battle a little bit. The girls are excited, and this gets them a little confident going into a big conference match tomorrow."
Samantha James led the Tigers offensively with 10 kills and two aces, while Cahill joined Netherton with eight kills.
Caroline Martin had 29 assists.
Caitlin Dresing had 16 digs, while Koprivicia added to her 1,000-plus career total with 14 digs. Before the match, Koprivicia was recognized for becoming only the fifth CU volleyball player to pass the 1,000 dig mark, doing so in a win last week at Indiana University Southeast.
Campbellsville (11-2, 2-0) travels to No. 6 Georgetown for a Mid-South Conference battle Tuesday night. The match will be the Lady Tigers' first MSC match of the year, after their previous MSC matches against West Virginia Tech were won by forfeit.
