"The girls had a will to go out with a bang. The closeness of them the last month has been great."

Senior middle blocker Renee Netherton of Louisville eclipsed the 1,000 kill mark in her final career match and collected back-to-back kills to turn a 23-23 third set into a 25-23 victory. CU won the first two sets 25-13 and 25-15.

Netherton, who was named an NCCAA First Team All-American, finished the match with nine kills - her high for the tournament. She entered the match needing seven kills to reach 1,000. Six of her nine came in the final game.

Campbellsville put away nine aces to jump out to a 2-0 lead in the match. Senior Whitney Haynes led the team with three aces, while Christiana Sindelar had two and four others each had one.

"We served really well. A couple of girls really stepped up on their serves. We kept the ball away and took their middle out. We knew if we could keep it just to the outside hitters, we could shut them down," said LeBleu, who was named the NCCAA National Coach of the Year.

CU utilized its outside, as Samantha James started outside after Brooke Marcum went down in the semifinal. James led CU in the final with 12 kills, three blocks and an ace. Tournament MVP Shannon Cahill had seven kills and 17 digs.

"Shannon had a good tournament. Everyone here saw her defense this week and that when a ball needs to be put down, she'll put it down," LeBleu said. "But I can't say enough about Caroline Martin. She played great defense through the tournament, throwing her body around to dig balls that should have been points. She was also very energetic - a real floor leader for us at setter."

Martin, who had 14 digs in the final, had 36 set assists in the championship, bringing her six-match tournament total to 223 and an average of 11.15 per set. She, along with Cahill, was named to the All-Tournament team.

In a tournament of defensive highs for CU, Haynes closed out her four years with a career-high 23 digs in the championship. She also had seven kills. Freshman Caitlin Dresing had 12.

CU advanced to the championship after beating Bryan College, 3-1, in the semifinal earlier in the day. Sindelar had a career-high 16 kills in the semifinal, while the CU defense collected over 100 digs. The Lady Tigers finish the season with a school record 38 wins and 13 losses. They were the only team to remain unbeaten through the tournament, sweeping through pool play as the No. 2 seed in the tournament.

Senior Jovana Koprivica of Serbia was also honored after the match, being named an NCCAA Academic All-American. The honor is given to those with a 3.4 GPA or higher.

Story courtesy of Campbellsville University sports information.