Lexington, Ky. – The Transylvania volleyball team cruised to a three-set sweep of the Franklin College Grizzlies on Wednesday evening at the Beck Center.
Transylvania turned on the jets as the night evolved in a 25-22, 25-15, 25-12 victory against its Heartland Collegiate Athletic Conference rivals to move to 2-0 in conference play and 12-9 overall. The Pioneers increased their win streak to five matches. Franklin fell to 8-11 overall and 0-2 in conference play.
The Pioneers began the night with a 13-7 lead off a 4-0 run fueled by two kills from Madison Sweeney and frontline contributions from Madi Davis and Kaetlin Ethington. Sweeney and Cate Scheper rose down the stretch to finish off Franklin for a comfortable three-point victory.
The Pioneers' defense continued to sharpen, holding Franklin to a .073 attacking percentage in the second set while the home team tallied 15 kills in the second set for a double-digit victory. Transylvania raced out to another early lead, building a 7-1 advantage and going on another 5-0 run to put the set out of reach.
Transylvania offered Franklin little opportunity to get going in the final set as the Grizzlies mustered just seven kills to seven errors.
After encountering an early 4-2 deficit in the third set, the Pioneers dictated that it would be the final one, responding with five straight points to surge ahead, 7-4 after a Maggie Harrison ace and another kill from Sweeney. Franklin countered with three consecutive points, but the Pioneers swung the pendulum furiously with eight straight winners for an insurmountable 15-7 lead.
Scheper led all players with 11 kills while Sweeney and Suzanne Klosterman each tallied eight kills. Makayla Davis paced all players with 21 assists while Sylvie Miller registered a match-best 16 digs. Ava Beltsos had a match-high three aces for Transy.
Over their current five-match win streak, the Pioneers have swept four of five matches with Wednesday's performance serving as their latest in the run.
Transylvania resumes its schedule on Saturday, October 9 against conference opponent Rose-Hulman as part of a regional tri-match at the Beck Center. The Pioneers will square off against Otterbein at 5:00 p.m. while Rose-Hulman takes on the Cardinals in the middle game of the tri-match at 3:00 p.m.
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