MARION, Ind. – After a tough loss the night before, Lady Tiger volleyball could not overcome a .079 hitting percentage and nine service errors against Indiana Wesleyan University. Campbellsville surrendered its first two-game losing streak of the season, 25-23, 8-25, 22-25, 20-25.
Early in the first set, the Lady Tigers were down 3-7 but came back and tied the match at 14. Indiana Wesleyan coach Candace Moats called her first timeout and her team responded with a 3-1 run coming back on the court. Kristine Egebrecht and Rae Brandes started to find openings in the CU defense but Campbellsville would respond with offense of its own. Kelly Moyer, Rinata Aisena and Daiane Souza led CU with 11 kills in the first set but the trio ended the match with only 20 combined kills.
Both teams used their two allotted timeouts in the first set and the score could not have gotten any closer without going into sudden death. But Campbellsville overcame the early deficit and took the set, 25-23.
The second set started just as close as the first. IWU took an 11-7 lead and forced coach Amy Zink to call her first timeout of the set. The Lady Wildcats came back out and scored five quick points to extend their lead. Zink was forced to call another timeout to try and cool the hot hands of Egebrecht and Brandes but was unsuccessful.
The Lady Wildcats came out of the second time out and went on a 9-1 run to close out the second set, 25-8.
With only three kills and 11 errors on 35 total attacks, Campbellsville struggled to find any offense while having a season low -.229 attack percentage in the second set.
Campbellsville led 7-6 at one time in the second set but lost 19 out of the next 20 points to Indiana Wesleyan and that set the stage for the rest of the match.
"Indiana Wesleyan was a scrappy team," Said Zink. "They got to a lot of balls on defense and showed why they are passing so well when they counter with their offensive attack."
Indiana Wesleyan came into the match passing at a staggering .960 on the year. And that ranks them sixth in the nation with 12.81 assists per set.
With the match square at one set apiece, the Lady Wildcats had all the momentum and Campbellsville was looking for leadership from a team that sports only two underclassman on the 12-woman roster.
The Lady Tigers came out with a 9-6 third set lead but surrendered an 11-3 run to Indiana Wesleyan and the Lady Wildcats took control.
Although, CU did manage to tie it at 18 on a kill by Jana Kortas, IWU went on another lopsided run to close out the third set, 25-22.
In the fourth and final set, Campbellsville struggled to gain any momentum as it could not get a lead and trailed for the remaining of the match. After CU brought the score to 15-13 still in favor of IWU, Coach Candace Moats called a timeout and the Lady Wildcats promptly went on a 5-2 run to take control. They eventually scored 10 out of the last 17 points, making the final score 25-20.
Indiana Wesleyan is no shrinking violet. They have beaten five other teams either ranked or receiving votes in the NAIA Top 25 Poll; and Campbellsville ended up being the sixth.
For IWU, Brandes, Egebrechtm Remy Buckner, and Kristin Predajna led the Lady Wildcats with 56 kills combined.
On the Campbellsville side, Rinata Aisena, Kelly Moyer, Haley Bechtel, Jana Kortas and Daiane Souza finished with a combined 34 kills.
Campbellsville (13-3, 7-2) will play host to Bluefield College (1-12, 0-7) on Thursday, Oct. 10 at Powell Athletic Center. The match is set to start at 7 p.m. Live stats and video links will be available on www.CampbellsvilleTigers.com
Follow Lady Tiger volleyball on Twitter, @CUTigerVball and Campbellsville University Athletics @CvilleTigers
Stat Line:
Kills — Aisena 10, Kortas 7, Bechtel 7, Moyer 5, Souza 5, Hernandez 3.
Assists — Schwieger 36.
Digs — Bechtel 16, Dresing 16, Schwieger 12, Llyod 8.
