CAMPBELLSVILLE, Ky. -- Playing at home in front of a large crowd Tuesday helped shake some rust off the Campbellsville University Lady Tigers in their Mid-South Conference volleyball opener. CU brushed off a four-set road loss from last week by downing Lindsey Wilson College in four sets (25-23, 18-25, 25-22, 25-23) at the Powell Athletic Center.
The win pulls the Lady Tigers even on the season (1-1, 1-0 MSC) and hands Lindsey Wilson (7-1, 0-1 MSC) its first defeat of the year.
"Tonight was a good win for us. Lindsey Wilson has a solid team. They passed our serves well and ran a quick pace offense," said Amy Eckenfels, CU head coach. "We still have a lot of work to do defensively and offensively, but much improvement from last game. We're looking forward to playing this weekend."
In the first set, Lindsey Wilson took an early lead, but
Samantha James collected a point for Campbellsville for its first lead of the night, 6-5. While the Blue Raiders held close,
Monica Chernichan powered a kill to give CU an 18-13 lead. Lindsey Wilson went on to outscore the Lady Tigers, 10-4, and regain a 23-22 lead, but CU rallied out of a time out to claim the next three points and the set, 25-23.
LWC took an early five-point lead in the second set, 11-6, and maintained that margin through most of the set en route to a 25-18 win. CU gave up eight points on attack errors, three on bad serves and one on a mistimed block.
Senior outside hitter
Shannon Cahill took charge offensively for CU in the third set, collecting nine of her team-high 17 kills in the match.
Genevieve Collette had five kills as the duo paired up for nearly half of CU's points in the 25-22 win. Collette would go on to collect 14 kills in the match.
Campbellsville wrapped up the conference victory in the fourth set, 25-23, led in scoring by Cahill and Chernichan with four kills each. Chernichan finished the night with 12 kills.
Sophomore libero
Caitlin Dresing made her return to the Lady Tigers' lineup for the first time since claiming the 2009 National Christian College Athletic Association (NCCAA) national title. The Louisville native 15 digs, while
Audrey Sanders, the returning Mid-South Conference Freshman of the Year, had 17 digs to lead the defense.
Campbellsville (1-1) travels to Lebanon, Tenn., this weekend for the Cumberland University Classic. The Lady Tigers will meet Union University and Martin Methodist College on Friday, Sept. 9 at 6 and 8 p.m. ET, respectively. On Saturday, Sept. 10, Campbellsville will play Trevecca Nazarene University at 3 p.m. ET before taking on tournament host Cumberland University at 5 p.m. ET.
