BELMONT, N.C. – Despite jumping out to an early, 2-0 match lead, the NAIA's new No. 1 drops their first match of the season as Belmont Abbey takes down CU in a five-set thriller.
Campbellsville (12-1) began their three-day Carolina road swing, undefeated, but with a tough journey facing three NCAA Division II opponents beginning with Belmont Abbey College (4-6) on Thursday night.
After a quick start, the Tigers were able to win the first two sets of the match, 25-23, 25-20, after picking up 25 kills between the two sets, led by seven kills from the NAIA's most recent Defender of the Week, Ramon Matos.
Hitting around, the .300 mark through the first two sets, Campbellsville was able to minimize their errors to nine, in order to put them in an excellent position to record their fifth consecutive sweep.
However, a slow start to the third set haunted the Tigers as the Crusaders captured the match's momentum, jumping out to a 13-6 lead in the set. While the CU began to close the gap, hitting struggles hindered their ability to bring it within four, as Belmont Abbey put themselves on the board, winning 25-19.
The Crusaders rode this momentum into the fourth, as CU and BAC battled point for point. As the two squads struggle to gain much more than a two-point advantage throughout the majority of the set, Campbellsville looked as though they would be able to seal the victory, only to relinquish the match point, and fall, 27-25.
As the fifth set began, Campbellsville looked to begin to settle back in, controlling much of play, to lead 8-6 as the teams swapped sides. The Crusaders, however, stayed within reach of CU, and took the set lead 12-11.
The Tigers fought back to put themselves on the line with multiple opportunities to win it with match advantages at 15, 16, 17, 18, and 19 but the Crusaders, continued to fight, and battled to take down CU, 21-19.
The Crusaders used a .458 hitting percentage in the fourth and .550 percentage in the fifth set to top the Tigers in the final two games.
On the night, Campbellsville was led by 15 kills each from Yannik Ahr and Mats Radzuweit, but only hit .240 on the night, with 26 attack errors.
Mistakes from behind the line haunted CU, as they relinquished 28 points on service errors, while only picking up two aces on the night.
The Crusaders on the other hand hit for .307 with a game high 22 kills form Liam Maxwell.
Campbellsville will now look to continue their Carolina road swing as they will travel to Gaffney, S.C., for a 7 p.m. ET meeting tomorrow with Limestone College.
