PIKEVILLE, Ky -- It was a night of close, but no cigar for UPIKE on Tuesday, when it was handed its fourth consecutive sweep, this one to open Mid-South Conference play by the hands of Campbellsville. The Tigers swept the Bears, 26-24, 25-14, 25-22.

Pikeville (4-7, 0-1 MSC) was helped out by the return of Noelani Simpson from injury who led the team with 11 kills. Five of those kills came in the first set which slipped out of the Bears' grasp late. 

After trading points for most of the set, UPIKE went on an epic 7-0 run to claim a 15-7 lead. Campbellsville (8-1, 1-0 MSC) slowly chipped away at that lead, but Pikeville still held set point at 24-20 before the Tigers went on a 6-0 run to steal the set.

​​​​​​​Campbellsville held that momentum through the second set, which it led wire-to-wire. After a relatively clean first set with only two errors, UPIKE's hit percentage dropped to an even .000 with six kills and six errors.

The trio of Maria Coelho, Sonia Flendrich, and Kaite Johnson provided most of the offense of the Tigers with 12, nine, and eight kills, respectively.

The third set was tension-filled throughout as neither team could take over. Campbellsville held the lead for most of the set, but Pikeville consistently kept within a point or two, and kept the strong home crowd in the match. UPIKE got within a point at 22-21, but couldn't overcome the deficit.

After the conference opener, UPIKE heads back to non-conference play when it will try to avenge its home opener loss from a week ago by Rio Grande. The Bears will travel to Ohio to take on the RedStorm, scheduled to start at 7:00 p.m. Thursday.