LEBANON, Tenn. – The Lady Tigers of Campbellsville University (4-2, 1-0 MSC) went on the road to take on their conference opponent, the Phoenix of Cumberland University (8-2, 1-0) Saturday afternoon. Great team play pulled out the victory in five sets.
Both teams entered the match 1-0 in conference play as Campbellsville defeated University of Tennessee Southern and Cumberland defeated Lindsey Wilson earlier in the week.
Campbellsville sent
Paige Merrick to the service line to open up the first set and she delivered a four-point run. Her precision serving was just what Campbellsville needed to get a strong start to this match. The Cumberland University Phoenix would make a comeback with some very powerful serves to tie things up at seven. With the score tied up at nine, Campbellsville took advantage of a hitting error from Cumberland. That put
Taylor Thacker to the serving line and she delivered a five-point run to separate from the Phoenix, 16-9. CU eventually captured the set behind a roll-off kill by
Hannah McGill to go up one set to none.
The second set was tightly contested early on as no team held more than a two-point lead at any moment. With the score tied at 11, the Phoenix rattled off a five-point run to open up a 12-19 lead. The Lady Tigers were unable to get in system as the Phoenix offense was too much to handle. The final score was 16-25, and now both teams were tied one set a piece.
Between sets, Coach Johnston and staff made some adjustments, specifically with their serving game. Those adjustments proved to be critical for the Lady Tigers as they had six aces in this set alone.
Andrea Laboy accounted for three of those aces to go along with 20 digs after only three sets.
Paige Merrick found a hole in the Phoenix defense where she could dump her sets, she scored three of them that were counted as kills for the Lady Tigers. Set three went to the Lady Tigers 25-18 leading two sets to none.
In set four, it was all Cumberland early on. Campbellsville held an early lead at 4-3 but the Phoenix was too much for the Lady Tigers to capture. They would open up an 8-13 lead when Coach Johnston called a timeout to regroup her team. The timeout produced two quick points and some momentum for the Lady Tigers. They eventually got to within one point of the lead when Cumberland called their own timeout. But the Phoenix was, again, too much for the Lady Tigers creating a 15-21 lead. Just when things started to look bleak for the Lady Tigers, Coach Johnston used her last timeout of the set and regrouped her team. They then came back to get the next three points. The Lady Tigers clawed and fought but the fourth set would go to Cumberland, 25-22.
In the fifth set, the Lady Tigers sent
Paige Merrick to the serving line and they quickly picked up the first point. The Lady Tigers went up 4-1 and didn't look back as they took the fifth set 15-7. The Lady Tigers were aggressive with their serves and stingy with their defense. The hammer that defeated the Phoenix belonged to the right arm of
Molly Shannon. She finished the match in double figures with 13 kills and 21 digs.
Paige Merrick would also end the match in double figures with 39 assists and 18 digs.
Andrea Laboy would have 29 digs and four aces.
Cierra Merrick would drop the hammer for 13 kills respectively.
The story in this match was how the dominate the Lady Tigers serves were. They scored 12 aces compared to the Phoenix's four and the reception errors, the Lady Tigers had four and the Phoenix had 12. The Lady Tigers improved their record to 5-2, 2-0 MSC and will take on Bethel University of Tennessee for their home opener on Tuesday, Sept. 13
th at 7:00pm ET.
