CAMPBELLSVILLE, Ky. – A late rally was not enough for Campbellsville University volleyball Tuesday night. Trailing 2-0, the Lady Tigers battled back to win the next two sets and force an extra frame against No. 15 Georgetown College, but CU was unable to complete the comeback in front of a home crowd, falling 19-25, 17-25, 25-23, 25-17 and 10-15.
Home court advantage looked to play to Campbellsville's favor early, as the Lady Tigers took a quick lead and stretched it to seven points, 16-9, midway through the first set. However, Georgetown charged back off the strong attack of Kathryn Thomas, who collected three kills during a four-point run to help GC cut the difference to three, 16-13. The margin remained the same until a string of four CU attack errors and back-to-back kills by Allyson Wilbourn gave Georgetown a 24-19 lead. Lindsey Martindale sealed the set with an ace.
With Campbellsville's early momentum temporarily stunned, Georgetown took a 16-8 lead in the second set en route to a 25-17 win.
GC tried to close the match in three, but Campbellsville was not going to go down without a fight.
Trailing 3-0, CU got on the board with a Kelly Moyer kill. After holding Georgetown's lead to only a few points, Campbellsville later took advantage of a pair of attack errors to gain its first lead of the set, 13-12. From there it was back-and-forth until Moyer hammered back-to-back kills on the final two points to keep the match alive with a 25-23 win.
CU carried its momentum to an 8-2 lead to start the fourth set, utilizing three kills by Moyer, who went on to lead Campbellsville with 11 in the match. The lead never wavered as CU played its best set of the night with 14 kills and only four errors on 35 attacks. A 25-17 win forced the final set.
Georgetown was not ready to give up its 16-match win streak to start October. After winning every match played in September, the visiting Tigers jumped out to a 6-1 lead and held on tight for their 17th straight win. Campbellsville chipped away at Georgetown's lead with a 6-2 run, pulling within a point, 8-7, after two Giselle Hernandez kills and a GC error. That was the closest Campbellsville would get though. After CU held GC to a 10-8 margin, Georgetown closed the match with kills on five of the next seven possessions for a 15-10 win.
Rinata Aisena followed Moyer's lead with 10 kills, while Laura DeGear had eight. Caitlin Dresing led CU with 19 digs, followed by 16 from Audrey Sanders, 12 by Kira Stewart and 11 from Lexis Lloyd. Jackie Schwieger had 11 assists for CU.
Georgetown was led in scoring by Rachel Eubanks with 15 kills.
Campbellsville (14-5, 5-2 MSC) will travel to Indiana Tech University this weekend to compete in the Liz Lykowski Memorial Tournament on Friday and Saturday. CU will first meet No. 17 Madonna University at 2:30 p.m. Friday, followed by Ashford University at 5 p.m.
