Men's Volleyball Three-Peats as MSC Champs

Georgetown Men's Volleyball cemented its status as the top program in the Mid-South Conference with its 3rd straight tournament title after a 3-0 sweep of Campbellsville in the championship on Saturday.

GC came out aggressive early on both ends against CU. With the 1st set tied at 2, Krzysztof Kowalski delivered back-to-back kills that started a 6-1 run and launched the Tigers to a 7-3 lead. Georgetown's work on both ends wrecked havoc on Campbellsville as CU committed 12 attack errors in the opening set, including 3 in a row with Georgetown's lead at 9-6. With Georgetown leading 16-11, Adam Szewinski put a ball away up the middle and thanks to 2 more CU errors, GC led 19-11. Kowalski and Ryan Gunn sent 2 more away a moment later to push the lead to 21-12. Georgetown finished out the set thanks to that 12th CU error for a 25-14 set 1 win.

As expected, Campbellsville shored up its game in the 2nd, which led to a much tighter set. There were 11 ties within the first 26 points as the teams split those evenly. Georgetown broke free on a 4-1 run thanks to kills from Kowalski and Tyree Wesley for a 17-14 lead. After a Ryan Gunn kill and a CU error, Georgetown's lead reached 20-16 and forced Campbellsville to spend a timeout to regroup. CU settled in and got back within 1 at 22-23, but an Adam Szewinski kill and CU's 7th attack error of the set gave Georgetown a 25-22 win, moving the orange & black 1 set away from the three-peat.

With its back against the wall, Campbellsville ramped up the aggression in set 3 and led for much of the early going. CU built a lead of 11-8, but Georgetown stayed the course and delivered a flurry in return. 3 straight kills from Ryan Gunn, Tyree Wesley and Krzysztof Kowalski tied the set at 11. Another kill from Kowalski surrounded by 2 CU errors gave Georgetown a run of 6 straight and a 14-11 lead, forcing Campbellsville to burn a timeout to stem the tide. The move paid off as CU scored 7 of the next 10 to retake the lead at 18-17.

Ryan Gunn answered back with 2 straight kills to give Georgetown the lead once more. Campbellsville countered with a 5-2 run to take a 23-21 lead and send Georgetown into a rare timeout. Head Coach Jim Dwyer called on Wesley and Kowalski up front and the seniors delivered to tie the set again at 23 and force Campbellsville into its 2nd and last timeout. Campbellsville scored out of the timeout to take a set point opportunity. GC called upon a young Tiger for the answer. Adam Szewinski buried 2 perfect passes from Kacper Dobrowolski to give GC a 25-24 lead and the first championship point. Campbellsville survived but was back on its heels as Michal Bak gave GC another shot at the title with a 26-25 lead, but CU had a response once more. Ryan Gunn gave GC a 3rd title point at 27-26, but Campbellsville refused to relent and scored the next 2 points for a 28-27 lead and a chance to extend the match to a 4th set.

Georgetown called upon its 2 Polish seniors as Kowalski and Dobrowolski delivered a kill and ace in succession to put the orange & black up 29-28 on a 4th championship point. Campbellsville survived again but could not stop the duo any longer. Kowalski delivered the goods 2 more times off feeds from Dobrowolski as Georgetown finally closed out the match, 31-29, to win the conference title for the 3rd straight year.

The Tigers turned in one of its best offensive performances of the season with 50 kills and a hitting percentage of .411. Krzysztof Kowalski used his MSC swan song to deliver a performance for the ages. The Senior finished with an incredible 21 kills while hitting a staggering .515. He also delivered 7 digs, 2 block assists and an ace. Kacper Dobrowolski was a virtuoso running the offense with 45 assists. He also added 10 digs, an ace, and block assist.

Ryan Gunn wasn't his best offensively, finishing with just 8 kills, but he had 6 digs and tied Adam Szewinski with 3 block assists. It was all part of a defensive effort that held Campbellsville to a .144 hitting percentage. Szewinski went 6-for-7 on kill attempts for an .857 hitting clip. Tyree Wesley added 8 kills, while Michal Bak finished with 6.

The Tigers punch their ticket back to the NAIA National Championship in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, starting on April 30th.