BOURBONNAIS, Ill. — Lady Tiger Volleyball validated a five-set upset win over No. 17 Viterbo today with a second straight five-set victory to end Day 1 of the Olivet Nazarene Holiday Inn Classic 2-0.

 

Campbellsville (8-1, 5-1 MSC) split the first four sets with Viterbo and took down the V-Hawks (15-4) with a 15-9 fifth-set squeaker.

 

In the nightcap, the Lady Tigers fell 25-13 and 25-23 early in the match with Trinity Christian University (12-3) before rallying in the last three sets — 25-23, 25-18 and 15-11.

The first set was hard fought and CU came out on the heels of Viterbo. But the V-Hawks went ahead late in the match and won 25-20. Rinata Aisena and Daiane Souza have carried the Lady Tigers all year, but Viterbo had an answer for the seniors.

 

Campbellsville came out in the second set and Souza started to find openings in the defense. She led the Lady Tigers with four kills in the set. Aisena also found her offense and contributed with three kills as well. Campbellsville ended up winning the second set 25-22.

 

In the third set, Campbellsville came out with a little fire and momentum. Giselle Hernandez put the Lady Tigers on her back and carried the team throughout the rest of the match. She led CU with six kills in the third set.

 

The Lady Tigers were without their four-year starter Kelly Moyer who took a leave of absence from the team due to a death in her family. So that meant others had to step up when the opportunity came their way. And Hernandez was the one.

 

"Giselle was a beast for us today," coach Billy Gregory said. "She carried us and stepped up in Kelly's absence."

 

CU ended up fighting off the V-Hawks to win the third set, 25-23.

 

In the fourth set, Campbellsville lost a step and the V-Hawks took advantage of a few service errors by the Lady Tigers. Alicia Olsen led Viterbo and ended up with 23 total kills on the match. Viterbo won set 4, 25-23.

 

Going into the fifth set, Campbellsville was looking for a little help on the defensive side of the ball and they found it coming up with 13 digs and six total blocks.

 

"We have talked a lot about being able to finish matches," said Zink. "And that's the difference between good and great teams; ability to close the match."

 

And close the match they did. The Lady Tigers played spectacular defense and used that to embelish their offensive attack with Aisena, Souza and Hernandez. Campbellsville outscored 17^th ranked Viterbo, 15-9 to win their first match of the Holiday Inn Classic.

   

In the nightcap, CU played Trinity Christian College. Campbellsville came out in the first set and struggled right away, committing 11 attacking errors. The Trolls went on a 14-4 run early in the set and Campbellsville started to make mental mistakes. The Lady Tiger offense struggled and only had seven successful attacks and the other six CU points came from TCC errors. The Trolls ended the first set 25-13 and had all the momentum.

 

"We played poorly in the first set," said Zink. "We did not come out ready to play and we needed to get beat like that for us to wake up."

 

The second started much like the first. TCC took a 3-0 lead early in the set and a kill by Aisena kick-started the Lady Tiger attack.

 

Campbellsville worked to only being down 8-12, and then CU went on a run of its own, scoring eight points to the Trolls one. Aisena and Hernandez started to find holes in the defense and their kills moved the momentum from TCC bench to Campbellsville's.

 

But the Lady Tigers started to push the envelope too much and committed attack error after attack error. Trinity Christian ended up taking set 2 as well with a score of 25-23.

 

"We made errors in back-to-back plays," says Gregory. "We have to come back after an error and pick each other up. We struggled with that the first two sets."

 

After the second set Campbellsville finally started to play with some aggression and applied pressure to the TCC defense.

 

The Lady Tigers jumped to a 7-3 lead early in the set and they did not look back. Campbellsville took advantage of attack errors by the Trolls and started to turn its offense around. Aisena, Souza and Jana Kortas led CU in the set and did not show any mercy winning 25-23.

 

The momentum started to turn around for CU and Campbellsville started out the fourth set exactly how it started the third. With the lead 7-3 in favor of CU, Campbellsville kept pressure on the Trolls defense.

 

The Lady Tigers got spectacular performances from Aisena, Souza and Kortas in the fourth set with the trio accounting for 16 of the 25 points.

 

CU was being aggressive on its serves and ended the set on a service ace by Caitlin Dresing making the score 25-18.

 

Now the momentum is totally on the Lady Tigers side. They have come back from being down 0-2 going into the third set and now its tied 2-2 going into the fifth set.

 

Campbellsville came out and took an early 9-4 lead. TCC called a timeout to try and cool the hot hands of CU but the timeout was not enough. Aisena and Hernandez accounted for the final six points for the Lady Tigers and completed the come back.

 

"I am so proud of the girls for not giving up," said Zink. "They showed a lot of fight and when their backs were against the wall, they started to push back and play to our strengths."

 

Friday was the first time CU has faced any adversity besides the Georgetown match on Sept. 12.

  

Campbellsville (8-1, 4-1) is in action again today at the Holiday Inn Classic. They will play St. Ambrose University and Cornerstone University in  single matches.