GOSHEN, Ind. – What looked to be a disappointing season opener for the No. 2 Campbellsville University turned into triumphant comeback as the Tigers earned a 3-2, five set victory over Goshen College on Friday night.
The Tigers dropped the first two sets before winning the final three as the set scores went 21-25, 15-25, 25-21, 25-19, and 15-12. Campbellsville struggled on the attack in the first two sets hitting for a .211 percentage in the first set and a .088 percent in the second set with Goshen outhitting CU in both sets.
Jason Camacho was stellar for the Tigers as he finished with a match-high 20 kills on 41 attacks for a .317 hitting percentage. He was supported by 15 kills from
Rafael Cruz, 11 from
Jakob Zum Kolk, and 10 from
Noah Henkel in the middle.
Those four also helped on the defensive end as Henkel, Zum Kolk, and Cruz were part of all five of the Tigers' blocks in the match and Zum Kolk, Camacho, and Cruz added a combined 18 digs.
Setters
Ryan Smith and
Jeremy Hernandez split time in rotation as the 6-6 Smith handled the front row setting to lead CU with 28 assists with Hernandez handling the back row to finish right behind Smith at 25 assists. Libero
John Montalvo finished with a match-high 19 digs while adding three assists and an ace.
In the first set, Campbellsville got out to an early lead before Goshen was able to climb back to tie it at 14-14 before eventually taking the lead at 20-19 and pulling away to finish the set on a 6-2 run. The second set was all Maple Leafs as they got out in front 4-1 early and extended the lead continuously throughout the set while hitting for a .450 percentage.
The third set was when the Tigers turned it back on to their early first set quality as they got out to a 4-0 lead in the set before GC tied it up at 8-8. CU continued to hold a lead as Goshen tied the score on multiple occasions in the set, but Campbellsville never looked back from their 18-15 lead and got up by as many as six before earning their first set win.
Needing to win the fourth set to continue the match, Campbellsville trailed early but pulled the set back to lead 8-4 and never let the Maple Leafs even tie the score for the remainder of the set, pulling away by as many as seven points before tying the match at 2-2.
The final set started off well for the Tigers again, but Goshen was able to pull back and tie the set late at 11-11 and 12-12. Fortunately for CU, they scored the final three points of the set to close out the unexpected win.
Campbellsville stays in Indiana for their second match in as many days when they travel to Fort Wayne, Ind. to face Indiana Tech Saturday afternoon at 2 p.m. ET.
