RIO GRANDE, Ohio — There are a lot of land mines on the road in the Mid-South Conference and the Lady Tigers dodged some tonight in Rio Grande, downing the RedStorm 3-1 — 23-25, 25-14, 25-20 and 25-19.
CU (18-6, 10-3 MSC) let the first set slip away after Rinata Aisena's ace gave the visitors a 20-17 edge. But a couple of CU ball handling errors allowed Rio to tie it at 22 apiece and then proceed to win three of the next four points.
"We came out flat and our ball control just wasn't there," said Coach Amy Zink. "They (Rio) had tight sets and as soon as the girls figured it out, we turned it on."
The match did a 180-degree reversal in Set 2 when four straight points off blocks gave the Lady Tigers a 21-12 lead on their way to 25-14 win. Kelly Moyer's kill made the spread 24-14 and Rio (10-15, 4-11 MSC) never threatened.
"Getting blocks is an immediate game changer," continued Zink. "Our play was a little divided until we started working within the system as a team."
The Lady Tigers would trail only one more time during the match (5-6 in the third set).
In Set 3, LTV used a variety of tip kills to ease out to a 14-11 lead that Rio was never able to dent. Aisena had three kills in the set's final 10 points.
In Set 4, Campbellsville pulled away from a 6-all tie to lead by five (14-9) on consecutive Rio attack errors. The Lady Tigers led 21-14 and held the RedStorm at bay on their way to a 25-19 win.
Moyer led CU with 16 kills followed by Aisena's 15 and 14 by Jana Kortas. CU held a .240-.161 hitting percentage edge. Betsy Schramm led the RedStorm with 15.
Campbellsville stays in Ohio for a 1 p.m. matchup with Shawnee State on Saturday.
STATLINE
Kills — Moyer 16, Aisena 15, Kortas 14, Daine Souza 2, Giselle Hernandez 3, Jackie Schwieger 3, Haley Bechtel and Aleksandra Popovic 1 each.
Blocks — Aisena 7, Souza 4, Kortas 3, Hernandez 1.
Digs — Caitlin Dresing 16, Audrey Sanders 12, Bechtel 4, Schwieger10, Aisena and Bechtel 4 each, Souza and Krista Mihelsone 1 each.
Aces — Schwieger 2, Sanders 2, Aisena and Hernandez 1 each.
Assists — Schwieger 28, Mihelsone 7, Dresing 1, Hernandez 1 and Kortas 2.
