MISHAWAKA, Ind. – The Lady Tigers, following their season-opening win, sought to continue their winning ways at the Crosstown Showdown. Hitting errors doomed the Lady Tigers in game one against Indiana University Kokomo, but Campbellsville responded with a convincing, rebound victory over Trinity Christian College to cap off day one at the tournament.
GAME ONE: Campbellsville 0, Indiana University Kokomo 3
In the first game of the tournament, fresh off their season-opening victory against Indiana University Southeast, the Lady Tigers were looking to make it two in a row against Indiana teams. However, the Cougars had other plans.
In the first set, the Lady Tigers were battling back-and-forth until the waning moments of the match. Two hitting errors by the Lady Tires gave life to the Cougars as they took advantage and won the set 25-27.
In the second set, the Lady Tigers could not get any momentum going. Campbellsville simply looked out of sorts and the Cougars again took advantage running away with the set early on. Miscues and hitting errors seemed to be the issue as the Cougars took the set 16-25 and went up to a 2-0 lead.
In the third set, the Lady Tigers were determined to continue fighting as they battled back from an early deficit. A kill by
Cierra Merrick tied the score 24. However, consecutive kills by the Cougars sent CU to their first loss of the season losing three sets to none.
"A disappointing loss but looking forward to the next match. The results were not what we expected," Coach Johnston shared following the contest. "However, I think we were able to learn some things in regards to our defensive system and little things we need to fix to become more successful. We are very proud of our girls.
Andrea Laboy, for example, led the team with digs and
Paige Merrick was able to find
McKenna Barfield in tight moments, which are some of the things that we like to see them accomplish."
The story of this match were errors mentioned above and serving. The Cougars were able to disrupt the Lady Tigers offense with some aggressive yet effective serves. Indiana Kokomo secured eight aces while the Lady Tigers had five, and the Cougars had only six service errors versus the Lady Tigers' 11.
GAME TWO: Campbellsville 3, Trinity Christian 0
The Lady Tigers aimed to get back to into the win column as they took on the Trolls of Trinity Christian College later in the evening.
The first couple of points were setting errors by both teams. With the score tied at one and the early jitters out if the way, the Lady Tigers got to work. They went on a five-to-one run and never looked back. They took advantage of some timely hitting and aggressive serves to open up a nine-point lead late in the set.
Hannah McGill,
Jalyn Michael, and
Molly Shannon each had three kills and Katie Mortin secured two aces to help the Lady Tigers take set one, 25-14.
The second set was much like the first as the Lady Tigers were ahead wire-to-wire. Led by
Cierra Merrick's four kills and
Andrea Laboy's dominating defense, The Lady Tigers cruised to take set two, 25-18.
In the third set, the Trolls would not go down without a fight taking a brief advantage late in the set, but CU's offense was too much for the Trolls to handle.
Cierra Merrick sealed the victory with a searing shot to make it 25-23.
Throughout the match, the Lady Tigers offense dominated the Trolls. For the match CU had a .329 hitting percentage while the Trolls had a .114 hitting percentage. Leading the way for CU was
Molly Shannon with nine kills and McKenzie Poteet and
Paige Merrick combined for 21 assists.
Andrea Laboy anchored the defense with 12 digs.
The Lady Tigers improved to 2-1 on the season while the Trolls fell to 1-7. Up next for CU is the second day of the Crosstown Showdown where they will hit the floor against Grace College at 11am ET followed by host school Bethel College at 3pm ET.
