CRESTVIEW HILLS, Ky. – The Tigers traveled to play Thomas More Thursday night. The match was a sweep, the Tigers taking it in three.
In the first set, Campbellsville kicked things off with a point of their own. They went on a 5-0 run and took an early 7-3 lead. The Saints scored only two points before the Tigers went in another 5-0 scoring spurt and led by seven points. Thomas More came out of their timeout attempting to cut into the Tigers' lead. The Saints then committed three errors in a row which gave Campbellsville an extended advantage. TMU tried to fire back but were unsuccessful and the Tigers took set one 25-15.
Niklas Held led the Tigers with five kills.
The second set started with the Tigers establishing an early cushion, but Campbellsville rattled off some errors which allowed the Saints to come back and tie up the score. The Tigers would respond with a 7-1 streak and took off with the lead. However, Thomas More was resilient and fought back within three points of the Tigers. Campbellsville eventually took off with the advantage again behind kills from
Drew Sims,
Ryan Smith, and
Andres Laboy. The final kill came from
Bastian Korreck and the Tigers won the second set 25-18. Sims made his presence known in the second set and led the team with seven kills.
Onto the third set and the Saints opened it with the first point. The teams then started to trade points back-and-forth and kept it close. Thomas More went up three points on Campbellsville and momentariliy captured control of the set. The Tigers answered by scoring four straight points and regained their lead. TMU didn't back down, posting a 5-2 scoring run to go back ahead. The set remained neck and neck but ended with back-to-back kills from Smith and an ace from Held. The Tigers won the final set 25-23 and swept the Saints.
The Tigers were led by Sims with nine kills. Held and Smith followed him with eight each,
Bastiaan Van Houten had six kills, and
Jakob Zum Kolk and Korreck both had four. Campbellsville's kill percentage was .253 tripling the Saints' .061. Smith had 30 assists in the game and one ace. Korreck had two aces and Held led with three aces. The Tigers had 15 more digs than Thomas More, keeping the ball from the floor with two double-digit defenders in
Jose Viera-Cerame (16) and Held (11).
The Tigers will be back in action Friday, March 4
th. They travel to Ohio to play the University of Rio Grande at 7 p.m. ET.
