HIGH POINT, N.C. – The No. 7 Campbell volleyball team fell to No. 1 Coastal Carolina in straight sets (14-25, 15-25, 19-25) in the Big South Championship match on Sunday, Nov. 22. Mary Crema and Katelyn Layden earned All-Tournament laurels as the Camels finished as Big South runners-up for the first time since 1989. Campbell finished the season 14-17 and 6-8 in the Big South.
"I told the team to savor the feeling and understand that it is a stepping stone for this program to go forward," said head coach Greg Goral. "There are eight teams in the conference who would have died to be in the position that we were and there is no going back. I want them to learn from this defeat and from the wins and understand what it takes to get here. Hopefully, this is a step forward for this program for the years to come."
Layden and Rachel Harty led the Campbell attack with six kills while Jessica Stocking added five of her own. Crema led the defense with nine digs and Summer Schuitema tallied seven.
The Chanticleers were led by Leah Hardeman who collected 14 kills and Annayka Legros who added 13. Sara Boothe dished out 46 assists and Carla Cahill and Lian Bernett each totaled 12 digs to lead the stat lines for Coastal Carolina.
Coastal Carolina started the first set on a 5-0 run after three Camel errors and two Hardeman kills. The Camels trailed 8-2 as they called timeout earning both points on errors from the Chanticleers. Campbell came out of the timeout on a 5-2 run scoring on two kills, an ace, and two CCU errors to pull within three (10-7) of the Chants.
Coastal went on a 6-2 run, forcing Campbell to call timeout down seven (16-9) after back-to-back aces by Eszter Nagy. The Camels scored five more points in the set, but the Chanticleers had a lead too great to overcome. Lian Bernett closed out set one 25-14 on back-to-back service aces to give Coastal the 1-0 led heading into the second set.
The Chanticleers got out to an 11-4 lead over the Camels to start set two. Campbell came out of the first timeout scoring five points but trailed 18-9 as the second CU timeout was called. He Camels scored four of the next five points to bring the score to 19-13, but the Chants scored the next five to reach set point. A kill by Bernett put the Chanticleers at set point and Legros recorded a kill to win the set 25-15 after giving up two points to the Camels on errors. Campbell recorded seven kills led by Stocking with three.
Coming out of the intermission, Coastal started strong going up 6-3 to lead the Camels. Campbell pulled within two (7-5) after a CCU error and a Harty kill to put Coastal on edge. The Camels came within one (9-8) of the Chanticleers on a block by Tait and Harty but the Chants answered with a 6-2 run to go up by five (15-10) as Campbell called timeout.
Campbell came within four (22-18) on back-to-back blocking errors by Coastal late in the third. The Chanticleers finished out the match scoring three points on a kill and two Camel errors to win the set 25-19 and the match 3-0 becoming the 2015 Big South Champions and defending their 2014 title.
2015 Big South Volleyball All-Tournament Team:
Leah Hardeman, MB, So., Coastal Carolina – Tournament MVP
Eszter Nagy, MB, Sr., Coastal Carolina
Lian Bernett, OH, Sr., Coastal Carolina
Mary Crema, DS/L, Sr., Campbell
Katelyn Layden, OH, Sr., Campbell
Megan Short, OH, R-Sr., Radford
Rachel Lenz, MB, Sr., Winthrop
