SENATH, Mo. -- Campbell fell behind a few points in both sets but refused to be denied the program's first Bootheel Conference Tournament championship in school history.
Second-seeded Campbell overcame a three-point deficit in the opening set and rallied from seven down in the second set as it outlasted the top seed Malden 25-19, 26-24 Thursday in Senath.
"We have guts and we have heart," Campbell coach Gentry Vancil said. "They just didn't die tonight. The girls played every point and played like we were never behind. They were very aggressive tonight and I'm very proud of them."
Malden middle hitter Gracie Thomas scored five of her team's first nine points on kills to help the Green Wave jump out to an early 9-2 lead in the second set.
Campbell (17-11-1) made up ground once Thomas rotated to back row and eventually moved ahead 13-12.
The Green Wave (15-5-1) followed with another 8-2 surge to move back ahead 20-15. Thomas recorded four additional kills, Maddie Saulsbery added two kills and Makenzie Minniefield had an ace serve for Malden during the spurt.
Claire Parker helped fuel a late second-set comeback as she recorded four of the Camels' next six points on three kills and an ace serve to cut the Green Wave's lead to 22-21.
"She's an awesome player for us," Vancil said of Parker. "She's a leader that wants it."
The second set was tied at 23 and 24 before an ace serve by Emily Peters put Campbell on top 25-24 and a kill by setter Macy Hendrix secured a 26-24 victory.
"We have setters that hit as well as our main hitters," Vancil said of Hendrix, who finished with five kills. "She had several good hits tonight and found a way to get the final point for us. Sometimes she gets overlooked but she's a very important part of our team as well."
Malden enjoyed leads of 9-6, 13-11 and 15-13 in the opening set before Campbell followed with a 9-1 run to move ahead 22-16 and led by at least three points the rest of the way.
"I feel like Campbell's hitters hit the ball well tonight," Malden coach Brittany Crane said. "They were able to get the ball to their hitters more than we could and that won them the game. We reacted a little slow defensively and Campbell hit the ball well."
Campbell recorded 26 kills while limiting Malden to 17 kills.
"I thought our libero, Elizabeth Steward, played great defense tonight," Vancil said. "She was able to get a hand on some of those hard hits."
Five Campbell hitters recorded at least three kills.
"We move the ball around well," Vancil said. "We have several hitting options and our setters use those options well."
Campbell left-handed middle hitter Anna Beth Vancil paced the Camels with 11 kills.
"She does well as a sophomore," Vancil said. "She's learned how to play middle and how to use her left hand to her advantage this season."
Thomas recorded 10 of her team-high 13 kills after the first set to pace Malden's offense.
"We struggled to score on the front row when Thomas is on the back row," Crane said. "We tried to keep her on the front row as much as possible but couldn't keep her up there long enough tonight."