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BUIES CREEK, N.C. – Campbell falls to Liberty in five sets Friday night at Gore Arena. Katelyn Layden and Rachel Harty each recorded 14 kills and Amelia Armstrong added an additional 11 as the Camels fell in their conference home opener. Campbell moves to 5-11 on the season and 0-3 in the Big South as they head into Saturday's match against Radford.
"It's a heartbreaker," said head coach Greg Goral. "We played well enough to win and didn't execute at the end when we needed to. Liberty had a quality server back there serving rockets and earned them some points. It just shows that we've come a long way, but we have a little bit further to go. I'm disappointed because we had a number of opportunities to win the match, but we are learning and we will figure it out. We have to do it quickly though because we have Radford tomorrow."
"All of them were close," said Goral. "It is one of those games with pretty even squads where one or two kills or one or two mistakes in any direction will determine the outcome and every game was like that. The games we won we earned them. The games we lost they forced us into bad situations there in points. These are the growing pains that we have as a young squad, but we are getting there and it feels good to be playing quality volleyball. Now we have got to figure out how to finish."
Set one started off with a Harty kill. The Flames and Camels went back and forth keeping the set close until the Camels gained a two-point lead (8-6) off of a Jenny Tait service ace. The Orange and Black maintained that lead for the remainder of set one and finished it off with a Harty kill to win 25-18. The Camels recorded 12 kills led by Madison Linxwiler and McKenzie Fell with three each. Mary Crema tallied six digs to lead the Camels who amassed 21 in the first set.
Liberty came out strong in set two as they went up on the Camels 6-2 early on a few kills and a service ace. The Camels fought back to tie the game eight all on a kill by Harty which led to the two teams trading the lead. The set remained close until the end when the Flames scored on a service ace by Sirena Vorster to give them a 23-22 lead. Two kills by Liberty sealed the set giving the Flames a 25-22 win over the Orange and Black. Campbell recorded 15 kills and 19 digs in the second set to the Flames eight kills and 17 digs.
After the intermission, the teams came back out fighting hard to get the edge up on the other. The third set was close early on and a kill by Harty gave the Camels a 9-8 lead and the momentum needed to hold off the Flames. The game would tie four times before the Orange and Black would gain the upper hand and finish the set 25-23 on a Layden kill. CU totaled 16 kills, 18 digs and a service ace to help them win the third set as Amelia Armstrong led the attack with six kills.
Similar to the previous three sets, set four was a close battle between two quality teams. Neither team would get control of the lead for long as the set tied up nine times before the Flames managed to get the upper hand. Liberty gained control on a Kill by Gabrielle Vess that would lead to the Flames winning the fourth set 25-22. Liberty racked up 16 kills to the Camels 13 in the fourth as Carolina Douglas knocked down six of her own to help the Flames win the set.
In the final set of the night, the Camels came out on fire recording six early points on the Flames as they called their first timeout. Campbell held a 7-3 lead after a kill by Harty, but the Flames did not back down. Liberty scored on five kills to tie the game at nine all coming out of the Campbell timeout. Campbell went up 11-9 but allowed a kill by Carolina Douglas and an attack error to allow the Flames to tie the game. Liberty took the lead on a service ace by Susan Babcock which they would hold to the end winning the fifth set 15-11 and the match 3-2. Both teams tallied eight kills in the fifth, but the three errors committed by the Camels gave Liberty enough room they needed to win the game.
The Fighting Camels return to action Saturday, Oct. 3, as they host the Highlanders of Radford University. First serve is set for 3 p.m. and is the annual 'Dig Pink' game for Campbell as they help raise awareness for the fight against breast cancer.
