CAMPBELLSVILLE, Ky. — Ever heard the verbiage, it's not how you start, it's how you finish? Well that saying proved to be right for the Lady Tigers tonight. University of the Cumberlands dominated the first set but No. 24 Campbellsville flipped the switch and tied its longest winning streak of the season at eight games.
 
After dropping the first set, 25-15, Campbellsville won the final three at 25-14, 25-15, 25-11.
 
The Lady Tigers improve to 19-3 overall and 8-2 inside the Mid-South Conference while Cumberlands falls to 11-15 and 4-7 inside conference play.
 
Senior All-American Annija Abolina finished with 19 kills to lead all attackers. On the season vs. Cumberlands, Abolina has 43 kills overall after recording a season-high 24 back on Sept. 5 in Williamsburg. Her top-two kill totals on the year have come against the Patriots.
 
Freshman setter Katie Harris shined in relief duty tonight by tying her career-high with 28 assists. The past two matches, Harris has recorded 28 in each vs. Pikeville and again tonight vs. Cumberlands.
 
Cumberlands was an efficient as coach Kathryn Hart could expect coming out of the gates in the first set. The Patriots finished with only nine kills but recorded only two errors, forcing the Lady Tigers to beat themselves.
 
Abolina recorded seven of Campbellsville's 13 kills in the opening set but the Lady Tigers also finished with nine errors and hit .108%.
 
With the Lady Tigers leading 6-5, Cumberlands went on a 5-0 run to lead 10-6. The Patriots went ahead 12-7 forcing coach Amy Zink to call her first timeout. UC eventually went ahead 16-9 and Zink called her second timeout but the Patriots kept the pedal to the floor, winning 11 of the next 17 points.
 
The next three frames were all Campbellsville.
 
Campbellsville flipped the switch and hit .348 with 11 kills on only three errors, while Cumberlands was the opposite in the second set. The Patriots finished with seven errors and hit -.037.
 
With the set tied 9-9, Campbellsville rallied the biggest it has all season with a 16-5 run and sinking the Patriots hope of an upset.
 
In the third, the Lady Tigers took a 1-0 lead after a service error by Cumberlands to start the set but the Patriots never did recover. Cumberlands carded six of its eight service errors in the third set and Campbellsville capitalized in a big way.  
 
With CU leading 19-11, Julia Fonseca stepped on the throat of Cumberlands with five consecutive points – four kills and a block – to lead the Lady Tigers to a third-set victory. Fonseca was the only other Lady Tiger with double-figure kills, ending the night with 10.
 
That was the decisive moment of the match as Campbellsville was too much for Cumberlands down the stretch. After the Patriots led 8-5 in the fourth set, the Lady Tigers ended the match on a 20-3 run.
 
Campbellsville will now travel to Life University on Saturday, Oct. 21 with first serve going up a 1 p.m. ET in Marietta, Ga. CU returns home on Oct. 31 to host Cumberland University at 7 p.m.