BOWLING GREEN, Ky. -- Phoenix dominates the first matchup and heads into the third round of the tournament, scheduled for Friday morning.

The Mid-South Conference Championship Tournament is a ten team, double elimination tournament, with the first two rounds being played on Thursday. Cumberland had a bye, as they finished first in the regular season conference standings at 30-4. Their matchup would be the winner of the eight-seed, the Cumberlands, and the nine-seed, Union Commonwealth. The Patriots would be able to sweep the Bulldogs 2-0. In the other games, seventh-seeded Shawnee State was able to get by tenth-seeded Brescia 2-1, with the third set being a best of seven game series. The Bears would get the win in the seventh game. This set up the second round of the tournament.

The Phoenix would have a tough matchup against the Cumberlands, who had a 5-3 performance this past Saturday at the Lynne Jordan Memorial. Cumberland would be able to dominate the matchup, winning the first game by a score of 1074-925 and the second game 1002-877. The Phoenix were the only team in the first two rounds to be able to reach the 1000 milestone in both games in their matchup. 

Looking at the other games in the second round, No. 5 Midway was able to sweep No. 4 Campbellsville 2-0, No. 3 Pikeville was able to beat No. 6 Lindsey Wilson 2-1 (4-0 in set three), and No. 7 Shawnee State was able to beat No. 2 Tennessee Wesleyan 2-1 (4-2 in set three). 

The third round of the tournament will start Friday morning with the No. 1 Phoenix facing off against No. 5 Midway and No. 3 Pikeville will compete against No. 7 Shawnee State. On the other side of the bracket, No. 10 Brescia will be facing off against No. 8 Cumberlands, with the winner facing No. 4 Midway, and No. 9 Union Commonwealth will battle against No. 2 Tennessee Wesleyan, with the winner going against No. 6 Lindsey Wilson.

The Phoenix will have a tough road ahead, but they are one step closer to winning the Mid-South Conference Tournament for the second time in school history, with that journey continuing on Friday.