BRISTOL, Tenn. -  It took top seed and defending NCCAA Division I national champion Campbellsville University five sets, but the Volley Tigers knocked off Asbury 3-2 in the first semifinal contest of the NCCAA Mid-East Region Tournament Saturday.



"Just a minor freak out."

That's how Tiger coach Amy Eckenfels described her team's semifinal effort.

"I'm not overly impressed with the effort, but we found a way to get through it," said Eckenfels. "The girls understand it will take more than what they showed if they want to continue."

Asbury jumped out to a 2-0 lead thanks to 25-17 and 25-22 wins. Campbellsville answered with wins of  25-16, 25-20 and 15-8 to advance to the Saturday evening championship match against either King (Tenn.) College or Oakland City (Ind.) University.

Asbury capitalized on Campbellsville miscues in the opener. Campbellsville had 11 attack errors and three serving errors in the set. Asbury just had one more kill, 10-9, than Campbellsville in a set that saw Asbury led from 5-4 to the end. The lead grew to as many as six, 16-10, at one point.

Once again Asbury gained momentum early in the second set, but Campbellsville stayed close. The match was tied at 16, but Asbury reeled off four straight points to gain control.

Campbellsville rebounded in the third set and after things were tied 12-12, the top seed went on a 4-0 run and never looked back. In comparison, Campbellsville had 11 attack errors in the opener with just three in the third set as the team hit .414. After the first, Campbellsville had just 12 attack errors in the final four sets after 11 in the opener.

In the fourth set Campbellsville never trailed as the squad started the match 6-1. From there the closest Asbury could come was four, 8-4, until the tail end of the set. A 9-2 scoring spurt by Asbury made the score 23-20, but that was as close as it would be.

Campbellsville once again built a 6-1 lead in the final set and never let up on Asbury. The advantage never dipped below five the rest of the way.

Monica Chernichan ended the match with 15 kills for Campbellsville. Shannon Cahill added 14 with 13 from Genevieve Collette and a dozen recorded by Samantha James. Caroline Martin provided 45 assists to her Campbellsville teammates.  Martin also had 22 digs.

Brittney Rader recorded 11 kills for Asbury with Allison Rehner adding 10. Mackenzie Burke and Emily Andrews both were credited with 22 assists each. Andrews added five kills and 15 digs along the way.

As a team Campbellsville hit .226 while Asbury was at .155.