#2 Campbell Sweeps #3 Winthrop to Advance to Championship Final
BUIES CREEK, N.C. – Campbell advanced to its second straight Big South championship match with a straight-set win over Winthrop Saturday afternoon at Gore Arena. The Camels will face top-seeded High Point following the Panthers' straight-set win over NC A&T in Saturday's other semifinal.
Campbell reached the Big South championship in 2019, the last year the tournament was held, but fell that year to Winthrop in straight sets. The Camels are now one win away from their first Big South crown and NCAA Tournament birth.
It was another trademarked balanced attack from the Camel offense, coupled with outstanding defense that helped the Camels to a straight-set victory. No Camel reached double-digit kills, but seven had 3+ kills, led by Sarah Colla with eight. The defense forced the Eagles into 26 errors and allowed them to hit only .034 for the match.
Campbell stole the first set to take an early 1-0 advantage. The Camels faced a 23-20 deficit, but back-to-back kills from Colla kickstarted a late 6-1 run to win the set at 26-24. Colla paced the Camels with five of her eight kills in the opening frame.
The Camels trailed late again in the second set down 18-16, but finished strong again in the second set for a 25-21 win.
Campbell capitalized on the momentum to pick up the largest set win of the day in the third, a 25-17 win. The set remained in doubt at 20-17, but two Camel kills and three Eagle errors helped the Camels to a 5-0 run to close it out in straight sets.
Madee Miner dished out 13 assists with Emily Mitter adding 12 to orchestrate the offense. Claranne Fechter led the Camels with 15 digs.
The Eagles were paced by nine kills and 16 digs from Nikkia Benitez and was one of just two Eagles to hit a positive percentage on the day. Jana Owens dished out 26 assists for Winthrop.
Campbell and High Point split the regular season meetings, each team defeding their home court. High Point's loss in Buies Creek was their only one during the Big South conference slate.
Sunday's championship is slated to begin at 4 p.m. and will be broadcast on ESPN3.