Staff photo / Dan Hiner. The Campbell volleyball team celebrates after securing a point in the second set of Tuesday’s match against Kinsman Badger in Campbell.

CAMPBELL — It started slow, but once the Campbell volleyball team got on a roll, it was hard to stop it.

The Red Devils stayed undefeated on Wednesday, taking down Badger in straight sets for a 3-0 win at Campbell High School. The Red Devils won 25-14, 25-16, 25-10.

Campbell improved to 6-0, the best start in program history.

“We put them through the ringer this offseason,” Campbell head coach Tyler Allen said. “We played in the summer league at Cedar Point, where we were in the highest division and got whooped on by some big schools. They competed in every set when we played there and got used to playing at a high level. And we scrimmaged in Austintown, playing a lot of other high-level schools, and I think it’s paid off for us.”

The first set was tied at 12 before the Red Devils scored the next five points, taking a 17-12 lead and forcing Badger to call a timeout.

Three straight aces by Elysia Rudolphi pushed the Campbell lead to 22-14, and a block by freshman Jada Smith clinched the opening set for the Red Devils 25-14.

Campbell successfully broke a tie with another string of points in the second set. This time, the score was tied at three before the Red Devils amassed seven straight points for a 10-3 lead and another Braves timeout.

Badger made a slight push and cut the deficit to 20-13, but a kill by Rudolphi gave the second set to Campbell, 25-16.

Badger (1-2) got a little momentum to start the third set, taking a 4-0 lead. However, a kill by Smith knotted the set up at four points apiece. But yet again, Campbell came back to tie it at nine and increase its lead to 19-9.

“I think our girls get a little bit bored, and we have to find a way to get out of that, because when we get far into the playoffs, we’ll have teams that we can’t get down against,” Allen said. “We have to come out guns-a-blazin’ right off the bat, at that level the whole time. We can’t afford to take points off, and I think that’s something we do a little bit too much, and that’s something we’re trying to fix at practice.”

A long volley by Badger clinched the third set and the match for the Red Devils, who took the frame 25-10.

“We just weren’t executing,” Badger head coach Tara Hall said. “We knew where we wanted to place the ball, but we were placing the ball out of bounds or weren’t having a good first pass to be able to execute.”

Campbell was the most talented team the Braves have faced so far this season. Hall knew the Red Devils were going to be a challenge, but taking a loss like the one on Tuesday night will help push the program forward after a 9-15 season last year.

“I told the girls tonight, ‘we are going to learn from this, we were going to see some fantastic hitting and we were going to grow from it,'” Hall said. “It’s going to help us in the rest of our season to play at a higher level. I encouraged them going into this game to keep their heads up and learn to make adjustments. I really do think they learned a lot and came out of this with their heads up, and I think it’s going to make us better in the end.”

Rudolphi finished with nine kills, 15 digs and six aces, and Smith had 13 kills, five digs and three blocks. Da’janelle Will recorded 30 assists, six digs, five aces and a block for Campbell.

“(Rudophi), she’s one of our captains, she’s our speaking captain. She’s a great leader on this team,” Allen said. “She does a great job with the girls — keeping them in the right head space, keeping them up, coaching them on the court.”

Now the Red Devils move into the main portion of Mahoning Valley Athletic Conference Scarlet Tier play.

They play three straight days starting on Tuesday. They will host Lowellville and Western Reserve before hitting the road to take on Jackson-Milton, all with a chance to keep their undefeated start going.

“The girls do a great job with the program,” Allen said. “We’re a little bit down in numbers this year, but the girls that we do have, they’re girls who come to everything. They’re at everything in the offseason, they work, they want to push themselves, they want us to hold them accountable, they want to hold each other accountable.”