BOWLING GREEN, Ky. – The championship run for the Tigers came up short in the Mid-South Conference Tournament finals Saturday night in Bowling Green High School.
The Knights won the match in a sweep, winning the three sets 25-20, 25-21, and 26-24 as St. Andrews wins the first ever tournament championship after winning the regular season championship going 13-0 in MSC play.
The attacking numbers were close as the Knights and Tigers had the exact same amount of kills in the match but the block stat was key for St. Andrews a they had nine blocks to just four for CU in the match. SAU also had three more digs accounting for Campbellsville's hitting percentage only being at .229 compared to the .333 that the Knights hit for.
The Tigers were led by
Rafael Cruz offensively as the junior recorded 13 kills in the match on 27 attempts for a .370 hitting percentage in the match.
Jason Camacho and
Jose Viera Cerame had nine and eight kills respectively in support but Camacho was more inefficient, hitting for just a .115 hitting percentage.
SAU had a pair players with double-digit kills in the match as Jacob DeSouza led the Knights with 12 and he was supported by Edgar Huerta who had 10. Ben Twigger was big for St. Andrews on the attack and the block with seven kills and seven block assists to score 10.5 points for the Knights.
This match more than likely ends the season for the Tigers as the NAIA Tournament has only eight teams invited to compete for a national championship.
CU finished with a commendable 22-9 overall record to finish off the 2019 season with a Mid-South Conference North Division Championship in the regular season and tournament runner-up in the first season of MSC men's volleyball.
