Campbellsville University nearly watched a 2-0 match lead slip away Wednesday, but battled tough in the fifth set to down Shawnee State University, 3-2, Wednesday night.
Campbellsville won its first two sets 25-14 and 26-24 before Shawnee State rallied to even the match score with wins of 26-24 and 25-20 in the third and fourth sets. Campbellsville won the fifth set 15-13 to hand the Bears their first Mid-South Conference loss of the season.
In the first set, Campbellsville had one of its best offensive attacks this season, collected 20 kills and just one error in 29 attacks, a 65.5 percent success rate. Throw in a few errors by Shawnee State and the Lady Tigers rolled to an 11-point win.
CU continued to hold its lead in the second set, going up 17-13 on the Bears. However, Shawnee State ralled back to tie it 17-17 and maintained the lead until the final two points. Tied, 24-24,
Genevieve Collette hit a cross-court kill from the right side of the net just inside the far sideline to give CU a 25-24 lead. An attack error by Heather Koehler gave Campbellsville the set, 26-24.
Set three had the same score but on opposite ends, as Campbellsville rallied back from being down nearly the entire set to tie it 20-20. Shawnee stretched the lead out, 24-21, with a kill from Koehler. She finished the match with 15 kills.
Shannon Cahill and
Monica Chernichan, who each had 22 kills in the match, had back-to-back kills to pull CU within a point, 24-23. Shawnee went on to win the match after the Lady Tigers were called for going over the net on a block attempt.
The Bears forced a fifth set with the 25-20 win in set four, and history was on their side as Campbellsville was winless in five sets this season.
Chernichan gave CU a 5-4 lead in the final set and the Lady Tigers never gave it up, as the Winnipeg, Canada native had three more kills and numerous rally-saving digs in the set. Holding to a narrow, 11-10, lead, Chernichan sacrificed her body to keep a volley alive until CU could put away the point. Once the Lady Tigers regained its two-point lead, 12-10, Chernichan followed up with a kill to make it a three-point lead. Koehler had back-to-back kills to pull Shawnee back within a point, 14-13, but Cahill powered her way to her fifth kill of the set to seal the win.
Campbellsville had four double-doubles in the match, as Cahill added a match-high 18 digs to her match-high 22 kills. Chernichan and Collette each had 10 digs to go with 22 and 14 kills, respectively. The fourth double-double belonged to setter
Caroline Martin, who eclipsed her career high with 59 set assists. She also had 13 digs.
Samantha James added 18 points for Campbellsville, 12 kills, one solo block and five assisted blocks.
Campbellsville moves to 18-5 on the year and 6-1 in the Mid-South Conference. CU travels to the University of Virginia at Wise on Tuesday, Oct. 12 for a 7 p.m. MSC match.
