CAMPBELLSVILLE, KY – Senior day had bigger implications today with the Tigers sealing the Mid-South Conference Regular Season Championship this afternoon with a 3-0 win over Shawnee State.
In the first set, the Lady Tigers jumped on the Bears early and often. They opened up a 10-5 lead early on, forcing the Bears to take a time out. After the time out, the Lady Tigers continued to increase their lead as they built a 18-10 lead forcing the Bears to take their last time out. Even after their time outs and their adjustments, the Lady Tigers simply were too much for the Bears. The Lady Tigers cruised to a victory in this set by the score of 25-18. Leading the way for the Lady Tigers on offense were
Molly Shannon with 5 kills and
Cierra Merrick with 4.
Andrea Laboy, led the defense with 10 digs.
In the second set, the Bears came out and showed some strength, especially early in the set. They were able to set the tone and compete with the Lady Tigers. Down by one-point,
McKenna Barfield got things going for the Lady Tigers with a thunderous kill. That led to an eight-point run to give the Lady Tigers a commanding lead midway through the set. However, the Bears would climb right back into it by tying the at 20-20. The Lady Tigers would fight their way to a two-point lead at 23-21, when the Bears called a time out and came back afterwards to tie the score, 23-23. Barfield gave the Lady Tigers set point on two separate occasions only to see the Bears come back and tie the score again and again. The Lady Tigers finally prevailed in the second set when Cierra scored a block to secure the set point, 27-25.
Up two sets to none, The Lady Tigers came out in the third set with a get it done attitude. They jumped out to a 17-6 lead and never looked back. Strong serves, aggressive swings, and a stingy defense kept the Bears from doing much of anything in this set. The Lady Tigers captured the set and the match, 25-16, 3 sets to none. In this set, the Lady Tigers hit at a .225 clip while limiting the Bears to a .065 hitting percentage.
The Lady Tigers were led by Shannon with 12 kills and
Paige Merrick with 39 assists on offense and Laboy earned 21 digs to lead the defense.
This regular season title marks the first title since 2006 and 2007 when the team won the regular season title. Campbellsville now locks in the number one seed in the conference tournament and earns the automatic bid to the NAIA Tournament later this month.
