The Transylvania volleyball team dropped a 29-27, 25-13, 25-21 match to the Mount St. Joseph University Lions on Wednesday evening at the Harrington Center.
The Lions squeaked out a first-set victory and picked up momentum from there, moving to 7-1 in Heartland Collegiate Athletic Conference play and 17-9 overall. The Pioneers suffered their second defeat of conference play, falling to 6-2 in the conference standings and 18-12 overall.
Grace Ward had a team-high 22 assists, but the Pioneers were unable to match the simmering movement of the Lions, who picked up steam as the night went on.
Wednesday's regular season matchup of the two teams who last faced off in the spring 2021 HCAC Championship pitted a thrilling opening set which the Pioneers controlled early and late. Sylvie Miller held serve for the opening four points, capped off by an ace to put the Pioneers in front. The Lions rallied back to tie up the set at 6-all, but the Pioneers scored another four straight to retain control.
Mount St. Joseph continued to inch back, but the Pioneers held Mount St. Joseph at arms' length. Following an ace from Cate Scheper, the Pioneers took a 21-16 advantage. Mount St. Joseph countered with its most important run of the night, outscoring the Pioneers 6-1 to tie up the set at 22-22. Battling deep into the set, the Lions finally overtook the Pioneers with back-to-back kills to seize the crucial first set.
The Lions scored 13 straight points in the second set to cruise to a 2-0 match lead. The third set was up for grabs as the Pioneers aimed for a long night in Cincinnati, but the home team went on a late run to finish the sweep.
Scheper led the Pioneers with 10 kills while Madison Sweeney added nine. Ava Beltsos led all players with 18 digs.
Transylvania wraps up the regular season on Saturday, October 30 with a pair of home games; the Pioneers will kick off the day with their conference finale against the Anderson University Ravens at 1:00 p.m. at the Beck Center, followed by a 3:00 p.m. nonconference clash versus the Denison University Big Red.
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