CLEVELAND, Tenn. — Close only counts in horseshoes and slow dancing, so Campbellsville's competitive losses to Bryan and Kentucky Wesleyan at the Lee Invitational today ring a little hollow for the Lady Tigers.

In seven sets, CU was only out of two, leading in the deciding sets before mistakes sealed LTV's fate.
 

Bryan (12-3) 3, Campbellsville (5-14, 1-4 MSC) 1

10-25, 23-25, 25-23 and 19-25

 

Bryan blew out CU in the first set, and led 17-12 in the second before the Lady Tigers found some life. The Lady Tigers chipped away, eventually closing to within 24-23 on a Bryan attack error. But Rachel Mosley's kill secured a 25-23 win.

 

Campbellsville, which committed 21 attack errors and eight service errors in the match, still made things interesting by running off to a 16-11 lead and holding on for a 25-23 third set win. Jana Kortas, who led CU with 16 kills, had seven in the fourth set.

 

Bryan won the kill battle 57-47 and committed eight less errors.

 

Jackie Schwieger had 39 assists while Marcella Compeau had a match-tying high 16 digs.

 

Kentucky Wesleyan (5-5) 3, Campbellsville (5-15, 1-4 MSC) 0

16-25, 23-25, 22-25

 

Errors were a big part of the outcome against the Panthers, who committed eight less attack miscues and five fewer service miscues.

 

Jana Kortas again led CU with 10 kills and .308 hitting percentage.

 

Wesleyan broke away from a 14-all tie in the first set and used tree CU errors to forge a 19-14 lead.

 

The second set was nip and tuck. Campbellsville never trailed by more than two points and pulled within one, 23-24, on Brianna Harman's fourth set kill, but Summer Alford salted it away on the next point with a kill of her own.

 

CU never led in the third, but used a kill by Kortas and an error by KWC to trail only 19-17. After closing to 22-20 on an Aleksandra Popovic's kill, Wesleyan scored three of the next five points for match point.

 

Campbellsville will return home for a Tuesday, Sept. 30 match (7 p.m.) with the University of the Cumberlands. The junior varsity tilt will begin at 5:00.

 

You can follow Lady Tiger Volleyball through Twitter @CvilleTigers and @CUTigerVball, on the web at www.campbellsvilletigers.com and on Facebook — Campbellsville Tigers.