CAMPBELLSVILLE, Ky. – Campbellsville's men's volleyball team set a new program record with 64 kills in a 3-1 victory over Trinity Christian College on Thursday night in the Powell Athletic Center.
 
The duo of Rafael Cruz and Diego Romero paced the Tigers (10-9) with a combined 39 kills, where each player set new career highs. Cruz finished with 23 kills and Romero had 17 kills. Jeremy Hernandez set a personal best with 53 assists and Stefan Sretenovic chipped in with 12 kills against the Trolls (8-12).
 
Campbellsville fell behind early in the first set, but battled back four different times to take the set. Part way through the game, Trinity Christian held a 19-16 – matching its largest lead of the set – but in the back-and-forth set, the Tigers scored four-straight points to grab and 20-19 lead.
 
The opening set continued to hang in the balance as the game stayed with two points over the next eight rallies, before the window became three to end the game. Trailing 23-22, the Tigers scored the final three points of the first set to steal a 25-23 victory in set one.
 
Campbellsville continued to hang on to the momentum heading into the second set and raced out to a 17-8 lead. The Trolls tied the second set at one early on, but the Tigers never looked back and took a 2-0 lead in the match after winning the second set, 25-18.
 
The third set carried the same tune as the first with a close-knit battle. However, a pair of 4-1 runs helped Trinity Christian take its largest lead at 15-11. Despite trailing by four points, Campbellsville did not back down and used a 5-1 run to take a 23-22 lead, forcing the Trolls into a timeout.
 
Out of the timeout, Trinity Christian did what Campbellsville did to the Trolls in the first set and scored the final three points of the set to escape with a 25-23 win, forcing a fourth set.
 
Trinity Christian looked to force a fifth set and went a 6-1 run to start the fourth set. The Tigers slowly chipped away at their deficit and tied the set for the first time at 14. Campbellsville capped off 5-0 run to grab its first lead in the set at 15-14. Even though the score was tied four times over the final 18 rallies, the Tigers never trailed and completed the comeback in set four to win 25-22 and take the match, 3-1.
 
Campbellsville hit .339 in the match, compared to just .191 from the Trolls. Trinity Christian had just 41 kills opposed to 64 from the Tigers, but the Trolls posted 14.5 team blocks, while Campbellsville had just 7.5 blocks.
 
The Tigers are back on the court Friday night at 7 and 9 p.m. ET against Warner University and Morningside College, respectively, in the Powell Athletic Center.