KISSIMMEE, Fla. – Although Campbellsville University Lady Tiger volleyball will leave the NCCAA National Championships disappointed, CU pulled together in its final match and the seven seniors went out on a good note. Campbellsville lost to Southern Nazarene in the first match of the day, 3-0, but topped Oakland City in the final match of pool play, 3-1.
Southern Nazarene 3, Campbellsville 0
The Lady Tigers struggled in the first set against Southern Nazarene and seemed to come out flat. Coach Amy Zink did everything she could to give CU the inspiration it needed to turn things around but the Lady Tigers did not answer the call.
With SNU leading 11-9, ball-handling errors started to catch up to the Lady Tigers. The Crimson Storm went on a 12-2 run to make the score 23-11. Campbellsville struck for five more points on back-to-back Kelly Moyer kills and a few service errors by SNU, but it wasn't enough.
Southern Nazarene got its game together and scored too more points to close the first set out 25-16.
CU recorded a match-low seven kills in the first set and could not get any rhythm on the offensive side of the net. But the Crimson Storm did not make it easy for the Lady Tigers as Kira Roberts and Emillee Crawford led SNU with nine combined kills.
The second set was much closer and Campbellsville seemed to wake up a bit.
With the score sitting at 16-16, Jamie Hope from SNU recorded two aces to give the Crimson Storm some much needed momentum.
Neither team could get an advantage as there was 12 ties in the second set.
With the match at 20-16, Coach Amy Zink called a timeout to rally her troops. CU did respond and brought the set to 22-23 on a kill by Giselle Hernandez forcing the Crimson Storm to call a timeout of their own.
Whatever Coach Kevin Ingram said to his players during the timeout must have sparked a fire. The Crimson Storm scored three straight points to close out the set, 25-22.
Although the match was definitely in control by Southern Nazarene, Campbellsville did not give up and played until the very end.
The third set was tied at 6-6 and both teams traded blows back and fourth until SNU took control again and gave the Lady Tigers their third loss in the NCCAA Tournament, 25-22.
Campbellsville 3, Oakland City 1
Campbellsville once again started slow in the night-cap. The Lady Tigers led 16-14 in the middle of the first set and forced Oakland City to call a timeout. Whatever the message was in the Lady Oaks huddle sure did ignite a fire under them and they responded with four quick points.
Coach Amy Zink then was forced to call a timeout of her own but the Lady Oaks came out and scored three straight to extend their run to 7-1 since the Oakland City timeout.
OCU ended up winning their only set of the match, 25-22.
The second set started out much like the first — very even. Both teams traded blow after blow and the set had to go into extra points to decide a winner.
Campbellsville led 22-19 but Oakland City won five of six points to tie the match at 23 all. Rinata Aisena and Daiane Souza picked up the slack on the offensive end and scored the final three points, Campbellsville 27-25.
After the second set win, Campbellsville gained a little momentum and Oakland City knew they may have just awakened the beast of a team that hasn't showed up at the tournament. The Lady Tigers have not lost four straight matches all year.
The Lady Tigers started out on 19-9 run led by Aisena and Souza. Each recorded six kills apiece and Campbellsville went on to win 25-14.
In the fourth and final set and the score tied at 13, CU went on a 7-2 run and Oakland City started to panic a little bit as it saw its hope of upsetting the very experienced Campbellsville team blow up in smoke.
The Lady Tigers started to play with a lot of energy and on the final play, the luck was definitely going their way.
Oakland City used a great offensive attack to pressure CU but another senior, Kelly Moyer, came up with the play of the tournament as she used her foot to kick the ball up perfectly to a fellow senior, Giselle Hernandez who ended the match with a kill.
Moyer stepped up big in the fourth set as she reached double digit kills with 10. Aisena finished the match with 15 while Souza chipped in 11.
With the win tonight, Campbellsville is one of the few teams to end its post-season run on a victory.
Although the NCCAA National Tournament did not go CU's way, the season was exceptional and there were many highs for the Lady Tigers to enjoy.
Campbellsville finished with a 29-12 record and third place in the very strong Mid-South Conference.
For a complete recap of the season and review of the seven seniors, check out Day 4 of the NCCAA National Tournament Diary, here.
