BOWLING GREEN, Ky. — The sixth-seed Lady Lions had a tough test as they faced the No. 3 seed Campbellsville University Tigers in the quarterfinals of the Mid-South Conference Tournament. Despite forcing extra rallies in the third set, FHU went down swinging in a 3-0 (25-22, 25-23, 26-24) defeat.
A Marija Millic service ace was followed by a block and two kills from
Iza Wos to put FHU (18-16) in the lead 12-9 in the first set. The Tigers would later tie the set 15-15 before scoring four of the next five points to forge ahead 19-16 and forcing an FHU time out. Though the Lady Lions registered another block and another ace, the Tigers reached 25 first to win the set 25-22.
After a first set where FHU swung .061, the Lady Lions tightened up to hit .273 in the second frame. Unfortunately for the Lady Lions, Campbellsville (22-13) hit a match-high 19 kills at a .438 clip in the same set. The Tigers began to pull away late in the set by taking a 20-14 lead, but with Milic at the service line, FHU had two aces in addition to kills from
Avery Young and
Morgan Jackson to take a 21-20 lead. Though they led 23-22, the Tigers scored three unanswered points to win the second set 25-23.
A tandem block from Milic and Jackson helped FHU tie the third set 7-7, but Campbellsville scored four unanswered points to take an 11-7 lead. The Tigers had taken a 22-15 lead, but another well-timed time out gave the Lady Lions the momentum needed to score six of the next seven points with Jackson's kill putting FHU down a lone point 23-22. With the Tigers on match point, Young tallied back-to-back kills to force extras, but CU recorded the last two points to win the set 26-24 and win the match 3-0.
The Lady Lions out-dueled the Tigers at the net and the service line, connecting for six service aces and seven blocks to CU's two and three, respectively.
Avery Young led FHU's offense with 12 kills at a .400 clip.
Marija Milic tallied four aces and joined
Morgan Jackson with a team-high three blocks.
Audrey Orton pulled up a team-high nine digs.
