WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. – Facing the same opponent in the NCCAA Invitational Championship for the third-straight year, the Campbellsville University men's volleyball team earned a 3-2 victory over Ottawa University Arizona Saturday night.
 
After winning the opening set, the Tigers dropped the next two sets before needing to win the fourth in extra points and pull out the deciding fifth set by four points to scrap out the championship in set scores of 25-14, 16-25, 13-25, 28-26, and 15-11.
 
Freshman Ho Yin Leung was the leader in kills for CU as he tied for the match lead with 16 kills on 30 total attacks for his season high in each category. Leung only had four errors to finish with a strong .400 attacking percentage part of a strong team attacking match.
 
Both sides were relatively efficient on the night as the Phoenix finished with a .281 team hitting percentage and Campbellsville finishing with a .274 hitting percentage as a team. The depth behind Leung brought good support as Ramon Matos finished with 11 kills, Rafael Cruz had nine kills, Jason Camacho when 8-for-12 on his attacks, Isaac Paches added seven kills, and Noah Henkel had four kills.
 
CU's front row was strong on the block as they finished with eight total blocks with five solo blocks and three block assists. Cruz finished with three of the solo blocks and a block assist, Matos added a solo block, Henkel helped with four of the eight blocks with three block assists and a solo block of his own, and Camacho was part of two of the block assists.
 
Both Jay Montalvo (11) and Jeremy Hernandez (12) had double digit digs as Hernandez finished the match with a double-double from the setter position after he followed up his 43-assist performance from earlier on Saturday with a 39-assist effort in the championship.
 
Ottawa University Arizona had three players with double figures in kills in Jordan Moses (16), Connor Duyck (12), and Emery Outin (11) but their depth didn't compare to Campbellsville's as they only had three other players with kills in the match.
 
In the do-or-die fourth set for the Tigers, OUAZ had two match-point opportunities at 24-23 and 25-24 as they committed a service error at 24-23 and Matos earned a kill at 25-24 with Camacho and Henkel combining for a block at 25-25. A Montalvo service error made it 26-26 then Cruz and Camacho finished off a pair of kills to clinch the set and pull the momentum onto the side of CU.
 
Campbellsville will return home with their new title banner to prepare for a pair of home matches on Feb. 6 when they host Lincoln College and Goshen College at Gosser Gymnasium.