BOWLING GREEN, KY – Campbellsville was unable to overcome the hitting strength of the Phoenix this evening falling 3-0 in the Mid-South Conference Championship.
Cumberland jumped on the Tigers from the get-go of the match. The first set proved to be a true back and forth clash of the one versus the two seed in the tournament. The Phoenix went on a 6-0 run late in the first set to open up their gap on Campbellsville and would win 25-20.
In the second set Cumberland grew the lead to as high as a 20-14 lead in the set before they went on to win the set 25-22. The third set, Campbellsville showed a lot of grit early in the set. Tigers had an 11-4 lead in the set before Cumberland began their gradual comeback to reel in the Tigers.
A 7-1 run for Cumberland would prove to make the match even at 12-12 midway through. Tigers would push Cumberland to the brink of the set and it went to a 26-24 score in favor of Cumberland.
Molly Shannon led the Tigers with 14 kills while
Mariane Cassiano had eight kills and 11 digs, and
Cierra Merrick and
McKenna Barfield had five kills each.
Paige Merrick finished her night off 28 assists and 12 digs.
Andrea Laboy led with 15 digs.
Overall on the match, Campbellsville had a hitting percentage of .171 while Cumberland had .292.
Campbellsville will now look towards the NAIA Tournament. Tigers won the Mid-South Conference regular season title and clinched the automatic bid. They will await their opponent in the NAIA Selection Show on Monday November 14
th.
