BOWLING GREEN, Ky. - The Tigers of Campbellsville University (19-5, 12-2 MSC) earned a first-round bye and opened up competition against the Tigers of Georgetown College this afternoon at the Ephraim White Gymnasium in Bowling Green, KY.
Campbellsville University came into the match as the champions of the regular season of the Mid-South Conference and recently having received a treasure trove of accolades and accomplishments. In total, seven Lady Tigers were voted to the All-Conference teams, including the Player of the Year Molly Shannon and the Setter of the year,
Paige Merrick. Head Coach Peyton Johnston was named Coach of the Year in her first season at the helm. Georgetown came into the tournament as the ninth seeded team and defeated eight seeded Freed Hardeman, three sets to one, to advance and face Campbellsville.
In the first set, GC scored the first two points, but the Tigers recovered quickly and opened up a 9-4 lead, forcing them to take an early time out. That did not result into much of anything, as CU continued to dominate midway through the set, leading 16-10. In the second half of the set, Campbellsville would continue to dominate using strong serves and a precise passing game to keep their offense going. The Tigers cruised to a 25-18 victory to capture the set. CU was led on offense by Marianne Cassiano with 4 kills and on defense by Andrea Laboy with 4 digs.
In the second set, both teams would exchange points back and forth. However, the Tigers would continue the formula that allowed them to succeed in the first set, strong serves, and a precise passing game. The Georgetown offense hit at a .000 hitting percentage after two sets and this was a direct result of that strong serving game. CU produced 7 aces through two sets, while only missing 3 serves. In contrast, GC scored 2 aces while missing 4 serves. When Georgetown was able to get a decent pass to start their offensive plays, the Tigers defense was stifling. In the end, Campbellsville again was just too much in this set as they cruised to a 25-18 victory.
Leading two sets to none, the Tigers were determined to leave no doubt. In this set, they continued what worked in the previous two sets. Their serving game continued to dominate the GC passers. The Tigers captured the set by a score of 25-12. In this match CU secured a total of 9 aces and missed only 3 serves. The Tigers defense kept Georgetown from any kind of offensive consistency as they limited them to a negative hitting percentage, -.053. Campbellsville was led on offense by Cassiano with 10 kills and Shannon with 8. On defense, Laboy had 13 digs and Makenna Barfield had 5 blocks.
Campbellsville advances in the Mid-South Conference tournament to matchup with Lindsey Wilson in the Semifinals. First serve is set for 6 p.m. ET tomorrow night at Bowling Green High School.
