LAURINBURG, N.C. — The (RV) Tigers faced off against the St. Andrews and then (RV) Lawrence Tech Saturday night. While they pushed St. Andrews to five sets, the day was not to Campbellsville's as they dropped both matches.
GAME ONE: Campbellsville 2, St. Andrews 3
An attack error by the Knights gave the Tigers an early lead to start the day. Campbellsville's advantage stretched to 4-1 with kills by
Gaston Barrionuevo and
Denzel Madrigal, but then St. Andrews had a run and knotted the game, 6-6. From that point, the Knights seemed to find the open spots in the floor more frequently as they garnered the advantage heading into a timeout called by the Tigers at 19-17. After the break, the Tigers gained the upper hand late in set one with kills by
John-Marcos Gonzalez, Barrionuevo, and Madrigal. Campbellsville was ahead 21-20 but a strong push by the Knights put them over the Tigers 25-22.
St. Andrews scored the first five points in the second set, and the Tigers finally got on the scoreboard with a block by Gonzalez. Campbellsville trailed midway through the second, but three straight points by the Tigers cut the Knight lead to 15-9.
Pedro Zavatini got the Tigers back on track as they got contributions by Barrionuevo and
JoVeaun Banks and it brought the game down to 20-17 before a Campbellsville timeout. The Tigers came out and Zavatini and Gonzalez smacked two kills, sending Campbellsville within striking distance. However, it was not enough to defeat the Knights and the Tigers fell in set two 25-20. Both teams were in a dead heat per killing percentage in the set: St. Andrew's .375 vs. Campbellsville's .379.
The Tigers carried over their hot hands after coming up short twice in the match. A block by Madgrial and Banks put Campbellsville in front of St. Andrews 7-5. The Tigers remained in front until the halfway mark of the set where the Knights tied the game up 13's. Campbellsville went on to score five straight points up to 21-15, and then withstood the Knights' push to sweep. The set ended 25-18 for the Tigers.
Set four saw the Tigers and Knights a lot like set three: with both offensives operating on all cylinders. The Knights managed to get three kills in a row, but Campbellsville was boosted by a block by the duo Banks and
Aleksa Plevaljcic, igniting a 5-3 run and ending the game in their favor, 25-20. The Tigers had a whopping .615 kill percentage in the frame.
Set five was competitive, but those lanes they were attacking in the previous two games began to close up. Campbellsville started out on top and it it wasn't until a kill by St. Andrews that they rattled off points, going up 6-3. The Tigers battled back and was tied at 11, but they could not capitalize and fell 15-11 in the decider.
Barrionuevo paced the squad with 14 kills, Plevaljcic poured in 48 assists, Banks stifled six attacks with his team-high blocks, and
Andres Laboy kept 19 balls from hitting the floor.
GAME TWO: Campbellsville 0, Lawrence Tech 3
Denzel Madrigal attempted to kickstart the Tigers, scoring the first ball on Lawrence Tech. Campbellsville would go back-and-forth with the Blue Devils and it wasn't until the 10-7 mark of the game that the Blue Devils pulled away. The Tigers put together some offense as well though punctuated by a timely kill from
Trevor Gruner, bringing the team within two points, 13-11. The Tigers' offense ran stagnant as they would only muster up seven points to end the game 25-18 in favor of the Blue Devils. Errors doomed Campbellsville in the frame, tacking on eight to the opponent's score.
The Tigers continued to hit an offensive wall going into the second game with the Blue Devils scoring three straight. Campbellsville landed its first point from a kill by Madrigal. However, Lawrence Tech rebounded with efficient play. Campbellsville got within five points after a service error by the Blue Devils, bringing the score to 17-12.
Jariel Diaz wasted no time, collecting another kill, but an exceptional offense by Lawrence Tech extended their lead to 21-14. Campbellsville's defense wasn't enough for the Blue Devils' offense as they would drop set two, 25-14. Lawrence Tech translated .722 percent of their attacks to kills in the frame and limited themselves to just a single error.
Campbellsville turned their sluggish offense around in the third set, boosted as they went ahead early after a service error by the Blue Devils. A kill by Madrigal had the Tigers up 5-3, but then more errors helped the Blue Devils get the lead back at 13-10. Campbellsville proved resolute and responded, snatching the lead back after a kill by Banks and service errors by Lawerence Tech, 16-15. Through the game, neither team was able to separate much from one another. A service error by the Blue Devils allowed the Tigers to push the game into extra points but an attack error by Campbellsville granted Lawrence Tech's victory, 27-25.
The Tigers more than doubled the Blue Devils' errors, 20-8. Madrigal ended with ten kills for the team-high, while also tying for team-high blocks with three (
Alvaro Grande).
The Campbellsville Tigers will next be on the road against Midway University on Tuesday, March 12th at 5 p.m. ET.
