PORTSMOUTH – Volleyball dropped a hard-fought 3-1 match on its home court against (RV) Campbellsville Saturday afternoon (19-25, 25-15, 25-18, 26-24). The Bears came out strong and took the opening game and held a lead in game four but the Tigers rallied to avoid having to play a decisive fifth game.
SSU started strong and took the lead for good in game one after just the third point of the match. The Bears would grow that lead to 14-10 and their biggest of the opening game, 19-13. Campbellsville would mount a mini run to get it to 21-17 but three straight points from the Bears would get them to game point. They would convert their third try to make it a 25-19 win and go up 1-0.
In the second game, the Bears and Tigers were tied at five-all before Campbellsville gained some momentum to take leads of 8-5 and 14-8 which each prompted SSU timeouts. The breaks in action couldn't slow the Tigers though as they led by as many as nine, 18-9, before closing out the 25-15 game to knot the team score at one-all. The third game would escape Shawnee State late is it trailed just 14-13 around the midway mark. Campbellsville held a 21-18 edge but closed strong with the last four points to go up 2-1.
A quick start from the Bears put them up 7-2 and eventually 15-10 as they looked to tie the match at two-all during the fourth game. However, Campbellsville would continue to close and got within two points at 21-19. A blocked attacked would eventually tie the match at 22-all. The match would also be tied at 23 and 24-all before back-to-back kills from the Tigers solidified the victory.
Devan Scarberry led the Bears' attack on Saturday with 12 kills while Tiffany Jackson added 11 more. Both Paige Zelich and Kristi Humble each finished with six kills for the match. Hannah Gephart finished with a team-high 22 assists while Bonnie Huesing added 19 more.
The Bears recorded six solo blocks on the day, led by Jackson's two. However, Campbellsville blocked down 13 of SSU's attacks for points. Carly Mazza led the Bears with 19 digs on the afternoon while Kirsti Yates and Madison Smith each finished with 17 digs.
Just three matches remain on the regular season slate for volleyball. All three of those matches will be home Mid-South Conference meetings as volleyball has clinched its spot in the MSC playoffs but can move up the conference standings with a strong finish to the season. SSU will be back at home next Friday, Nov. 1 and Saturday, Nov. 2 against Cumberland (Tenn.) and the University of the Cumberlands.
