BOWLING GREEN, Ky. – The #2 seeded Campbellsville Tigers continued their Mid-South Conference Tournament campaign, taking on the #1 seeded Georgetown Tigers. Campbellsville and Georgetown share the same regular season conference record of 9-1. The Tigers fell to the opposing Tigers in three sets, 3-0.
The opposing Tigers earned the first point of the match-up, but Campbellsville answered with a point of their own with a kill from Joao Tavares, assisted by Alonzo Vega. Georgetown stacked up several unanswered points, leading to a six-point advantage at 12-6. The Tigers worked to cut down the opposing Tigers' lead but continued to fall short as the set progressed, 21-12. A Trevor Gruner kill, assisted by Aleksa Plevaljcic, added another point to Campbellsville's side of the scoreboard. Unfortunately, Georgetown retaliated to take a ten-point lead before scoring the match's final point. The opposing Tigers took set one, 25-14.
The second set began with three service errors in a row. After an error-riddled start, the Tigers and opposing Tigers matched point-for-point, with neither team able to gain a significant advantage. Kills came from John-Marcos Gonzalez and Denzel Madrigal to contribute to Campbellsville's side of the scoreboard. Georgetown took a two-point lead at 13-11, but back-to-back kills from Madrigal and Gonzalez quickly tied the set at 13-13. The opposing Tigers followed with back-to-back-to-backs kills, taking a three-point lead at 18-15. Campbellsville managed to cut the lead back to two points. Georgetown didn't wait to regain their advantage, capitalizing on attack errors and kills. Two errors from the opposing Tigers put Campbellsville back in striking distance, leaving the score at 23-22. Georgetown put the final touches on the set, winning 25-22.
Much like the second set, the third started with two errors. Andres Laboy gave the Tigers their first non-error point with a service ace. JoVeaun Banks and Madrigal combined for a huge block, giving the Tigers a two-point lead. Back-to-back kills from Madrigal extended Campbellsville's advantage to 10-7. Georgetown went on a 7-0 run to leave the scoreboard reading 14-11. Kills by Banks and Gonzalez, as well as Georgetown errors, tied the set at 17-17. Madrigal's kill, assisted by Laboy, put the Tigers back in the lead. The opposing Tigers continued to match the points put up by the Tigers. Trevor Gruner and Madrigal added two more kills to the Tigers' stats, taking a 22-21 lead over Georgetown. As the set's final points were nearing, an attack error from the opposing Tigers gave Campbellsville a two-point lead, 23-21. Back-to-back points for Georgetown left the set tied at 23-23 before a kill from Pedro Zavatini put Campbellsville back in the lead. Both teams matched point-for-point, leading the set into extra points. The opposing Tigers earned the closing points, winning the third and final set 31-29.
Madrigal led the Tigers with 16 kills, followed by Gonzalez with 12. Plevaljcic collected 26 assists. The Tigers fell short in several statistical categories: points (43 to their 57.5), kills (38 to their 50), hitting percentage (.144 to their .411), assists (36 to their 50), digs (23 to their 36), and total blocks (3.0 to their 6.5).
