Three matches won leaves three to go for Campbellsville
University in its quest for the NCCAA National Volleyball Championship. The
Lady Tigers clinched Pool B and a berth to the NCCAA semifinals Friday morning
with a 3-0 win over the Spring Arbor University Cougars, 25-22, 29-27, 25-13.
It's the second straight semifinal appearance for CU at the NCCAA National
Tournament.
"This is our national tournament to focus on. Last year we
were disappointed about not going to the NAIA . There's a lot more drive about
wanting to win this one," CU head coach Randy LeBleu said.
Campbellsville jumped out to a 7-2 start in the first set
with the help of five straight serves by
Caroline Martin. The lead grew to
seven points, 24-17, before Spring Arbor picked up momentum with a four-point
streak.
Shannon Cahill put away the set for CU, 25-22, with a kill from the
left side.
Spring Arbor carried the momentum into the second set to
take an 8-3 lead. After a CU timeout, the Lady Tigers began to close the gap,
cutting the lead to a point, 10-9, but Spring Arbor held on with a four-point
rally. After siding out the volley at 13-11,
Whitney Haynes served the Lady
Tigers to four straight points and a 15-13 lead. Though the Cougars regained
the lead, 18-16, CU pushed its way through a back-and-forth battle in the final
points to win, 29-27, and take a 2-0 lead in the match
"We just knew we were in a dog fight. I called timeout to
just try to relax them and tell them you don't have to panic. Just go out,
relax and don't make errors," LeBleu said. "Spring Arbor was putting the
ball over the net and waiting for us to make errors, but toward the end, our girls
were digging balls that probably should have ended the set. They had a will not
to let the ball hit the floor."
In the third set, the Lady Tigers combined for four blocks
and 10 kills to lead CU to a 25-13 victory to close out the match.
The attack was balanced throughout the match, as
Brooke Marcum
led the Lady Tigers with nine kills, followed by Haynes with eight and
Renee Netherton
had seven.
Martin had 32 assists to help set up the Lady Tigers'
attack, while CU battled defensively with 76 total digs. Martin also led the defense
with 18 digs, followed by 17 for
Caitlin Dresing, 15 by Haynes and 14 for Cahill.
"I thought Carol played really well," LeBleu said. "The
choices she made with her sets were great. Our passing game was a little off, but
defensively we were really good."
Campbellsville (35-13) meets Southwestern Assemblies of God
in the final match of pool play at 4 p.m. Friday. Southwestern beat CU in the
first pool play match of the 2008 NCCAA National Tournament. CU will play in
the noon semifinal Saturday against the runner-up from Pool A.
