CAMPBELLSVILLE, Ky. - The Lady Tigers (13-4, 7-1 MSC) hosted the Blue Raiders of Lindsey Wilson College (9-9, 5-3 MSC) in the second match-up of the Battle of Highway 55 on Thursday night in Gosser Gymnasium. Campbellsville, coming off of a tough 3-0 conference loss against Thomas More, came into the match looking to take their second win over Lindsey Wilson this season. Meanwhile, the Blue Raiders were looking to even the rivalry series, coming off of a strong 3-0 victory over that same Thomas More squad.
In the first set, the Blue Raiders came out strong, jumping out to a 7-3 lead. The Lady tigers quickly answered with a 4-0 run behind tough serves and a pair of kills from
Mariane Cassiano to even the set at 7-7. After that, the two teams traded runs, causing the Blue Raiders to take a timeout at 10-9, having only a one-point lead. Following the timeout, they battled to another tie at 12-12, after which
Molly Shannon energized the crowd with a trio of consecutive kills. The Lady Tigers rode that wave to a 19-14 lead, forcing Lindsey Wilson to take another timeout. The Blue Raiders came back out regrouped, going on another run to cut it down to a one-point deficit at 19-18. However, it wouldn't matter in the end as a flurry of consecutive kills and blocks from
Jalyn Michael,
Cierra Merrick and Cassiano, led the Lady Tigers to a 25-21 first set victory.
Lindsey Wilson came into the second set looking to even the score as they swung first again with a 5-0 run. They showed no mercy as they continued to ride that wave to a comfortable 9-2 lead, forcing head coach and former Blue Raider Peyton Johnson, to take a timeout. Campbellsville came back out on a mission, going on a 4-1 run to cut the deficit to 10-6. The Lady Tigers continued to battle with the Blue Raiders, cutting the deficit again to just 13-11. Lindsey Wilson won a huge momentum point to go up 14-11, but the Tigers stayed strong. A service ace from
Paige Merrick, followed by a huge block from
McKenna Barfield, plus a pair of Lindsey Wilson errors, energized Campbellsville to a huge turnaround and a lead of 18-15. The Blue Raiders continued to fight back just down 19-18 before taking a timeout. Knotted up at 20-20, CU was the one this time to win a huge momentum point with their heart and scrappiness; and they didn't look back as the crowd was electric, watching them finish off the set on top, 25-21.
In the third set, the Lady Tigers looked to finish off the game with a sweep and additional conference victory. They came out strong out of the gate and held a sharp t6-2 lead. However, a couple of Campbellsville attacking errors and good Lindsey Wilson swings, resulted in a long run for the Blue Raiders, giving them an 8-6 lead. The two squads then traded punches, tying the score three times and no one taking more than a 2-point lead on the way to a score of 18-15 CU advantage. Following a timeout from LWC, the Tigers won another point, causing the Blue Raiders to take another timeout immediately at 19-15. Both squads came back out still swinging. A good defensive effort and kills had the Blue Raiders battling back to a close margin of 22-21. In the end, it was stellar defensive play from
Andrea Laboy and
Katie Morin to keep the Blue Raiders from scoring. The Lady Tigers rolled along with an absolutely amped up home crowd, to a 25-22 third set victory.
Campbellsville improves to an 8-1 conference record and 14-4 overall. Their next match will be on Tuesday, October 18 as they host University of Tennessee Southern at 7pm ET.
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