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HIGH POINT, N.C. – The No. 7 Camels defeated the No. 2 Panthers of High Point in straight sets (25-20, 25-18, 31-29) in the quarterfinal match of the Big South Championship Thursday night. Katelyn Layden led Campbell with 11 kills and two aces with a .290 hitting percentage. The Camels will face the winner of the Radford/Liberty match on Friday, Nov. 20 at 7 p.m. in the semifinals of the Big South Championships.
"I think we played with a lot of poise and came in with a good game plan against High Point," said Head Coach Greg Goral. "Our seniors really settled the team down whenever we got in trouble and it was really nice to see. We didn't panic at any point, even when High Point went on runs with their tremendous offense. The biggest thing was we executed and scored more than we have all year."
Layden led the attack with 11 kills while Rachel Harty contributed seven more for the Camels. Rebecca Ramirez set the ball up 14 times while Summer Schuitema recorded her third straight double-double with 12 assists and 13 digs. Mary Crema led the defense with 16 digs and had eight assists of her own. Jenny Tait tallied six blocks in the match to lead the attack defense and Jessica Stocking added three more including a solo stop.
Camryn Freiberg led the Panthers attack with 16 kills and Haley Barnes collected a double-double with 10 kills and 11 digs. Annemarie Chin paced the defense with 17 digs and Gabi Mirand set up 41 assists for the host High Point.
The third set saw eight match points for the Camels as the number seven seed won the set 31-29 and the match 3-0 over the number two seed Panthers. The third started with HPU getting out to a 5-2 lead on an ace by Camryn Freiberg. The game tied up at five all after three consecutive errors by the host school and soon became a battle for points. The Camels gained a one-point advantage on an attack error by Jordan Hefner and were up by four points after a block from Tait and Madison Linxwiler as High Point called timeout (17-13).
The Panthers rallied back within two (17-19) and tied the game on an attack error by McKenzie Fell. Campbell were up 21-19, but High Point fought to stay in the game tying the score on an error by Layden. The game became a battle of who wanted the set more as the teams tied the contest seven times. The Camels got the two points needed to win the set on a block by Tait and Rebecca Ramirez closing the set 31-29 and the match 3-0.
The Camels went up 3-2 in the first set on a kill by Linxwiler to take hold of a lead that they never relinquished. Campbell's lead extended to five on an attack error by Haley Barnes putting the score at 9-4. The Orange and black went on an 8-6 run as High Point called its first timeout down five (17-12). The Panthers scored three points to the Camels two as coach Goral called his first timeout up by three (19-16). Campbell finished out the set on a 6-3 run putting the final score at 25-20. Layden had three kills for the Camels and Crema led the defense with seven digs.
Both teams battled back and forth in a point-for -point set. The Camels gained a one-point lead (13-12) on a service error by Molly Livingston. HPU pulled within one (15-14) on a kill by Savannah Angel but the Camels played a better game as they closed out the set on a 10-4 run to win the second set 25-18 and take control of the match with a two-set lead. Harty tallied four kills to lead the Camels in the second while Fell added three more.
The Camels return to the court Friday night in the semifinal round of the Big South Championships. They will face the winner of the Radford/Liberty match at 7 p.m. in the Millis Center on the campus of High Point in High Point, N.C.
