Campbellsville University opened its 2010 Mid-South Conference schedule with a win Tuesday, beating the University of the Cumberlands in three sets (25-18, 27-25, 25-16) at Powell Athletic Center in Campbellsville.





The Lady Tigers were held tight in each of the sets before pulling away with the wins. Cumberlands held a narrow, 11-9, lead in the first set before a Shannon Cahill kill and Cumberlands attack error tied it at 11. From there Cahill helped serve for six of the Lady Tigers' next seven points and take an 18-12 lead. The margin remained the rest of the way, as the Lady Tigers won the first set by seven points, 25-18.

In the second set, the two teams were gridlocked early, 5-5. Campbellsville managed to pull ahead 13-9 on a kill by Genevieve Collette, but the Patriots evened the score again, 14-14, and remained close until the final point. Collette collected four kills in the match to lead CU, followed by three each from Monica Chernichan, Samantha James and Kelly Moyer. Moyer, a freshman from LaGrange, Ky., collected the go-ahead kill at 26-25 and CU won the match on a Cumberlands error the following volley.

Set three belonged to the Lady Tigers and Cahill. The junior from Louisville, Ky., had seven kills and two aces in the third set to help lead CU to a 25-16 win. Back-to-back kills by Cahill broke a 9-9 tie and gave CU an 11-9 lead midway through the set. While the Patriots evened the score again, 11-11, James and Collette had back-to-back kills, followed by Cahill's second ace of the set to pull ahead by three, 14-11. The lead quickly grew to 20-12 en route to the Lady Tigers' largest lead of the night and a nine-point set victory at 25-16. Cahill finished the match with 12 kills, tying Chernichan for the match-high. Collette followed with 10.

Setter Caroline Martin, who had 14 assists in the final set, finished the night with 37 assists, while defensively, she added 15 digs to follow Audrey Sanders' 19 digs.

CU head coach Amy Eckenfels said some of the Lady Tigers' struggles through the match was due to installing a new offense over the past week.

"We struggled with our service receptions early. We can't get the ball where it needs to be to run a play, but a lot of that has to do with putting in the new offense," Eckenfels said. "The girls did really well though with us just giving them the offense in less than a week. I'm glad they stayed with it and worked hard."

Eckenfels said the Lady Tigers will be working hard on improving the offense over the week before entering the meat of their schedule Sept. 14-15 with trips to Lindsey Wilson College and Georgetown College. CU (5-1, 1-0 MSC) returns to the court Tuesday, Sept. 14 at Lindsey Wilson for a Mid-South Conference match beginning at 8 p.m. ET.

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