TU Stays Perfect at Home as Trojans Take Down Campbellsville in Opening Round
UPLAND, Ind. – The No. 11 Taylor (31-5) volleyball team feasted on the energy alive in Odle Arena Saturday evening, as the Trojans beat RV Campbellsville (21-7) in four sets, 26-28, 25-15, 25-19, 25-20, to advance to the NAIA National Tournament Pool Play for the first time since 2011.
The atmosphere inside Odle Arena has become affectionately known as the “nightmare on Reade Avenue,” as no team has left its confines with a win this year other than the hometown Trojans. Taylor is now a perfect 17-0 at home in 2022, having extended its home win-streak to an impressive 27-consecutive matches.
Saturday evening was just the latest among Taylor’s recent string of victories, now having won 12-straight matches overall as the Trojans capitalized on 32 Campbellsville attack errors along the path to sweet victory.
Taylor meanwhile posted 53 kills in tandem with just 18 errors, while maintaining a team hitting percentage of .230. Seniors, Ryan Czerniak and Arlanda Faulkner, led the way for Taylor in its offensive attack with the two Trojans combining for 28 kills.
Czerniak totaled 15 kills in 36 total attacks, while Faulkner added 13 more on 35 attacks, all the while a Trojan trio of Anna Frey, Grace Ieremia, and Jaylynn Dunsmore, combined for 23 kills of its own.
Match play was not solely controlled by Taylor on Saturday evening, however, as Campbellsville offered a word of caution to TU’s faithful by winning the first set 28-26.
The Tigers posted 18 team kills in the opening set alone, capped with seven strong kills in response to a 22-19 deficit to steal the set in extra play.
Taylor punched back with a 10-point win in set two, though, as Faulkner tallied four second-set kills while Campbellsville posted more errors than kills, four of which paved the way for a 5-1 Trojan run to close the set.
Czerniak, then, went off for five kills in the third frame, while junior outside hitter, Anna Frey, struck four of her own. Frey laid much of the foundation for TU’s third-set win, while Czerniak posted all five of her set kills within Taylor’s 7-2 run to finish the frame.
Campbellsville outkilled the Trojans 15-11 in the fourth set, but the Tigers suffered from 10 attack errors and three service errors, which in time ensured the fourth set would be the final set as Taylor pulled off a reverse sweep.
Taylor finished the match with 11.0 total team blocks, six of which occurred in the fourth set. Kacy Bragg contributed four total blocks throughout the night, alongside 44 assists, nine digs, and a pair of kills.
Though it was Ieremia who was relentless at the net once again, combining five block assists with three solo blocks for a match total of eight blocks.
Ieremia now has 137 block assists for the season, which is the fourth-best mark for a single season in TU program history. As the Trojans prepare for pool play, Taylor’s dynamic mid-hitter sits just nine block assists from a share of the single-season program record.
With its win over RV Campbellsville on Saturday night, No. 11 Taylor (31-5) has booked its ticket to Sioux City, Iowa, where the NAIA National Tournament Pool Play is set to unfold between November 30th and December 2nd.
Sioux City will host 24 teams from across the nation, who will be divided into eight three-team pools, the winner of each will advance to the NAIA National Tournament Quarterfinals scheduled for December 3rd.
The eight pools are set to be revealed Sunday evening, November 20, at 6:00 pm EST.
