CAMPBELLSVILLE, Ky. – Coming off of back-to-back Mid-South Conference sweeps in a road trip to North Carolina, the Tigers are returning home for another MSC match with Midway University and 7 p.m. ET.
The No. 1 Tigers enter Tuesday's match boasting a 16-2 record, while leading the Mid-South Conference standings, going 4-0 in conference play. Midway on the other hand sit at 4-6 and are 0-4 in MSC play, despite nonconference wins over Cumberland University, and Reinhardt.
As the country's top-rated team, the Tigers rank among the NAIA's top five in aces (94), blocks (132.50), assists (710), and kills (761).
Individually,
John Montalvo sits fifth in the county with 167 digs, while
Jeremy Hernandez leads the team in assists and
Rafael Cruz leads the team in kills with 167 in each of those statistical categories.
Coming off of their road swing to Laurinburg, N.C., Campbellsville picked up their 12
th and 13
th straight set wins of the season behind two of their most efficient hitting games of the season.
In game one against St. Andrews, the Tigers, led by double digit kill numbers from Cruz and
Yannik Ahr were able to hit for 41 kills on 69 attacks for an attack percentage of .478, their second highest of the season.
Campbellsville then topped that performance the following day against Reinhardt, with 38 kills on 62 chances, while limiting themselves to five errors. This brought the Tigers hitting total to .532 on the day, marking the highest percentage for the team this season.
Through the two matches, CU outscored opponents 150-91, with their closest set coming at 25-17.
After starting the year 4-2, the Eagles enters Tuesday's meeting losing four straight, while only taking one set in their past four matches.
However, the Eagles have found success in their serving numbers, ranking third in the NAIA with 1.84 service aces per set, led by Victor Bazzo who ranks third with 0.7 aces per set.
Adrian Constant has also helped push the Eagle attack as his 4.85 kills per set lead the team and rank him fourth among NAIA opponents.
Last season, the Tigers matched up with Midway twice, where they took 3-1 and 3-0 match wins.
It was last year's match in Gosser, where the Tigers put together a dominant performance with a sweep, 25-11, 25-12, 25-15 behind 10 kills from
Joudiel Poveymirow and five aces from Jose Viera.
Campbellsville will look to add to the MSC lead with a win Tuesday evening before traveling to Bluefield College on Feb. 21 at 7 p.m. ET.