MARSHALL, Mo. – Tigers lost in three on the road against Missouri Valley Sunday night.
Set one opened with close back-and-forth play between the two teams. The Vikings broke out a solid lead at 10-8. The Tigers sought to bounce back and pull ahead as they got their offense operating with kills from
Jakob Zum Kolk and
John-Marcos Gonzalez. Campbellsville and Missouri Valley fought point-for-point as neither team had surpassed a three-point lead. The Tigers maintained their competitiveness by relying on Gonzalez heavily, as he notched five kills in the first frame alone. Tigers lost though 25-18 as the Vikings went on a seven-point run to close the set.
Campbellsville allowed Missouri Valley to get started quickly in set two, the Vikings going on a three-point run due to early attacking errors by the Tigers. Campbellsville aimed to change the fate of the frame by focusing on established hitter
Denzel Madrigal. Madrigal was responsible for three of the four points that brought the Tigers up to speed. Missouri Valley disrupted the Tiger's offense by relying on their blocks as they finished the match with 12 blocks compared to the Tigers' three total blocks. The Tigers needed to maintain consistency and came up short 25-16.
The third set opened up with the Tigers exerting control with a 5-3 score over the Vikings. Gonzalez and Madrigal were the key players at the beginning of this set, with the ball consistently distributed to them. They executed at the highest percentage on the team. The Tigers began to lose control of their lead towards the middle of the set, needing an answer for the high offensive execution from the Vikings. Campbellsville's attacking errors didn't help their case. The Tigers battled out of this by going on a seven-point run with
Fernand Morales at the service line. This was the final push from Campbellsville, which pulled the score up to a knotted 22-all. The Vikings rattled off three straight points, and the match ended 25-22 in their favor.
The Tigers hit 0.165 on the night as a team compared to the Vikings' impressive 0.407. Morales averaged four digs a set with 12 total digs on the night. Tigers continue to look towards building and maintaining consistency as the season progresses.
The Tigers will be back in action on March 10th in Wisconsin as they play the Cardinal Stritch Wolves at 3 p.m. ET.
