MISHAWAKA, Ind. – The Campbellsville University women's volleyball team set out to make the final day of the Crosstown Showdown a great day of volleyball. They rallied back two sets down to defeat Grace College but fell to the (RV) Bethel Pilots in their last contest.
GAME ONE: Campbellsville 3, Grace 2
First, Campbellsville had to contend with the Lancers of Grace College. Coming off a split from the day before The Lady Tigers were ready to compete.
In the first set, the Lady Tigers had a hard time with the Lancers offense. The Lancers led during the whole set. Campbellsville put a run together to get to within three points when the Lancers called a timeout and ran away with the set using a seven-point run to make it 22-12. The Lancers offense proved to be too much for the Lady Tigers as they won, 25-17.
In the second set, The Lady Tigers kept the score closer throughout. They pulled to within one point of Grace but once again the Lancers offense was too much for the Lady Tigers defense. A smashing kill from
Hannah McGill allowed the Lady Tigers to get to 20-21 only to see the Lancers go on a four-point run and put the set away, 20-25. Leading the Lady Tigers in the set was
Molly Shannon with five kills.
The third set was a different story. Coach Johnston and staff made some adjustments during the break and the Lady Tigers were able to slow down and disrupt the Lancers' offense. The Lancers finished the set with a .156 hitting percentage, a far cry from the first two sets where the Lancers hit .206 and .294 respectively. The Lady Tigers used a combination of strong serves and precision passing to keep the Lancers off-balance. The Lady Tigers' near-perfect passing game allowed their offense to stay in rhythm while McGill and Shannon punished the Lancers at the net. The Lady Tigers would take set three, 25-23.
The forth set was a run away for Campbellsville as they dominated Grace the entire set. After a tie early on in this set at four, the Lady Tigers went on a 7-1 run. They opened up a 11-4 lead and never looked back. They picked up right where they left off with the same game plan that they used in the third set. Timely hitting, accurate passing, and great defense allowed the Lady Tigers to even things us at two sets a piece. The final score was 25-16 and setting the pace for CU was McGill on offense again and
Andrea Laboy on defense.
The Lancers would come out hot in the fifth and decisive set. Just when things were looking bleak for the Lady Tigers, Coach Johnston called a timeout with the score 4-7 in favor of the Lancers. During the timeout more adjustments were made as well as some much-needed motivation and the Lady Tigers came out determined to win. They went on a 7-1 run to open up a 11-7 advantage and never looked back. The Lady Tigers captured the set and the match, 15-11. The adjustments that CU made proved to be pivotal for their success. In the sets that they won, CU had a hitting percentage of .111, .258, and .240 while keeping the Lancers' hitting percentage to a mere .156, .115, .175 respectively. The big difference makers in the match were McGill with 20 kills and Laboy with 29 digs.
GAME TWO: Campbellsville 0, Bethel 3
The Lady Tigers looked determined to continue their winning ways but the Pilots of Bethel University had other ideas.
The Lady Tigers opened up a 7-4 lead to start off the first set but the Pilots went on a 6-3 run of their own in response. The Pilots capitalized on some early Campbellsville miscues and captured the set 25-23. The Lady Tigers could not get much going offensively as their hitting percentage in this set was .118 and the Pilots had a .229 hitting percentage.
In the second set, the Lady Tigers corrected their offense and was able to produce a better and more competitive hitting percentage as they hit at a .231 hitting percentage as opposed to the Pilots' .108. The difference in this set was the competitiveness of the Lady Tigers. Determined not to go down without a fight, Shannon tied the score at 24. Campbellsville benefited from an attack error from the Pilots to give them a 25-24 lead. However, a missed serve and consecutive kills by the Pilots gave them the set, 25-27.
The Lady Tigers needed to gain some strength after two long days on the road to compete in this match. CU would try to keep things close as they tied things up at 14 but the Pilots engineered a 7-1 point run to position themselves 15-21. In the end, the Pilots would capture the set 17-25 and send the Lady Tigers to their second loss of the season. Leading the way for CU was McGill yet again with 14 kills and
Paige Merrick with 34 assists.
The story in this match was the serving game. The Pilots aced the Lady Tigers nine times and committed four serving errors. By contrast, the Lady Tigers had two aces and nine service errors. In the end, the Pilots kept the Lady Tiger's offense out of system the entire match with an aggressive serve. The loss sends CU to a record of 3-2. The Lady Tigers will be back in action on the road Wednesday, September 7
th at 8pm ET as they take on the University of Tennessee Southern.
