DES MOINES, Iowa – As their tournament hopes hung in the balance, the Campbellsville University men's volleyball team lost their final match of pool play in a 3-1 final score to Vanguard University.
 
The Tigers dropped their first two sets before pulling out the third set to stay alive as the scores went 25-19, 25-23, 21-25, and 25-10 in favor of the Lions on Thursday morning.
 
VU held significant advantages in the major statistical categories in the match as the most important, hitting percentage, went.287-.112 in favor of Vanguard. The Lions finished with 50 kills, 33 of which came specifically from the tandem of Kyle Anema (21) and Matthew Roussin (12).
 
It was another big blocking effort by a CU opponent as Vanguard blocked 14 attacks for VU points scored led by middle blockers Valesis Vaisual (8) and Cody Watts (6). Roussin and Anema added five and four block assists respectively with Anema adding 10 digs for a double-double.
 
For Campbellsville, Ho Yin Leung led the Tigers in kills for the third-straight match as he finished with 12 kills on 25 attacks with only four errors to finish with a .320 hitting percentage. Ramon Matos added 10 kills in the middle with only four errors on 21 attacks for a .286 hitting percentage.
 
The depth attacking struggled for CU as both Rafael Cruz and Jakob Zum Kolk finished with negative hitting percentages and Isaac Paches only had two kills on eight attacks.
 
The loss will end the 2021 season for Tiger volleyball as they earned the trip to the NAIA Tournament for the first time in program history after winning both the Mid-South Conference Regular Season and Tournament Championships for the first time in program history.
 
Their 26-5 overall record is the most wins in program history as they will move into the 2021-22 academic year to build off of program milestones towards the ultimate goal of an NAIA title.