CLEVELAND, Tenn. – With both Campbellsville and Lee University coming into the NCCAA Mid-East Regional Championship match with perfect 3-0 records, Campbellsville could not capitalize on a first set win and lost three straight, (25-15, 23-25, 18-25, 17-25) in the unofficial championship match.
Campbellsville took total control of the first set as Rinata Aisena used a perfect 6-for-6 on attacks and recorded six kills.
The Lady Tigers recorded 15 total kills and six of those came off passes from setter Jackie Schwieger.
CU forced Lee to call both of their allotted timeouts, but nothing seemed to work for the 23-year coaching veteran, Andrea Hudson.
Campbellsville won the first set handily, 25-15.
Although CU only recorded two errors and used a .394 hitting percentage in the first set, The Lady Tigers could not hold down Hudson and the Lady Flames.
The powerful Lee team came alive in the second set and recorded 17 kills and only three errors. The Lady Flames also hit a staggering .500 on their attacks.
Aisena led CU in the second set with four kills but seven of her attacks could be dug up by Lee University.
The second set went back-and-fourth but Lee used late errors by Campbellsville to with their first set of the match.
With the match now back to where it started, Lee stayed on track as CU took a step back.
Although Kelly Moyer and Giselle Hernandez recorded five kills apiece, Campbellsville struggled to find an answer for the Lady Flames.
Paula Martins pitched in five kills for Lee and Campbellsville struggled to find any rhythm outside the two seniors, Hernandez and Moyer.
Lee started out in the fourth set with a service error but the Lady Flames recovered and came back from being down 7-10.
Lee took the fourth set and the match, as the CU defense could not find an answer for the Lady Flames, 25-17.
Martins finished with 18 kills to lead Lee, followed by 12 from Lauren Williams. Aisena and Moyer had 14 and 10, respectively, for CU.
Lee University advances to its first NCCAA Division I National Championship Tournament as the automatic bid from the Mid-East Region. CU, ranked No. 2 in the NCCAA power rankings, awaits an at-large bid to the tournament, which will be played Dec. 5-7 in Kissimmee, Fla. The at-large bids and tournament pairings will be announced Sunday evening, Nov. 24.
