Richmond, Ind. – The Transylvania volleyball team fought to an epic 19-25, 32-30, 30-28, 25-22 win over the Mount St. Joseph University Lions in the Heartland Collegiate Athletic Conference semifinal match on Saturday evening at Druley Performance Gymnasium on the campus of Earlham College.
The Pioneers won the second semifinal match of the day held at Earlham to advance to tomorrow's HCAC Championship match against the host Quakers at 1:00 p.m. for an automatic bid into the NCAA Division III Volleyball Championships. No. 1 seed Earlham won earlier in the afternoon over No. 4 seed Hanover in four sets to establish the Sunday championship matchup.
Aiming for its fourth consecutive conference tournament championship appearance, the Pioneers fended off a hot start from the hungry Lions, who fell to the Pioneers in last spring's delayed 2020 HCAC Championship match.
Transylvania was also trying to return the favor to the Lions, who won in three sets over the Pioneers in their regular-season faceoff on Wednesday, October 27 at the home of the Lions in Cincinnati. By virtue of the Lions winning the lone regular-season meeting, the Pioneers entered the semifinal as the No. 3 seed, needing to win a Wednesday quarterfinal to rematch with the No. 2 seed Lions, who began their tournament run on Saturday after a quarterfinal bye.
The veteran core of juniors Sylvie Miller and Karrington Jackson set the tone for Saturday's inspiring win: Miller had a career-high 19 kills to go with 17 digs, one block, and one ace to provide a championship effort for the Pioneers. Miller was joined by Jackson, who delivered 16 kills to just three errors for a sizzling .542 attacking percentage. Cate Scheper provided big hitting all night with 15 kills and four digs while Kayden Holcomb had a powerful evening composed of 11 kills, three digs, two blocks, and an ace for a .348 attacking percentage.
Grace Ward was another critical Pioneer who rose to the occasion with a career-high 59 assists. Ava Beltsos led the Pioneers with 20 digs in a phenomenal tussle which required nonstop clutch defensive contributions from all Pios.
The Lions looked fresh to start the night, using effective opening serves to charge to a 7-2 lead over the Pioneers in set one. Mount St. Joseph had a 4-0 advantage in services aces in the opening set, never conceding the lead to the Pioneers as they went up, 1-0.
The momentum swung in the second set as the Lions were in sync early to the tune of another 7-2 advantage. The reliable Pioneer veterans of Jackson and Miller settled Transylvania with hard, accurate hitting to knot up the set at 8-8. Mount St. Joseph responded by scoring four of the next five points to once again create some distance, but the Pioneers responded with five straight points to take a 14-13 lead.
Transylvania's digging sharpened as Miller held serve for five straight points before missing long on a serve, leading to a 14-14 tie. The lead see-sawed between the two teams as the requisite 25-point marker would not be enough to determine a winner in the second set. Trailing 22-20, the Pioneers scored four straight points to earn set point at 24-22. But the Pioneers were plagued by four service errors the rest of the way to leave the door open for the Lions.
Transylvania later served for set point at 25-24, 26-25, 28-27, 29-28, 30-29, and 31-30. The Lions also swung back multiple times to grab set point at 26-25 and 27-26. The resiliency of the Pioneers was on full display as they fought off a potential 2-0 deficit. Miller was the final hero of the set as the junior took two pinpoint passes from Ward for back-to-back kills, seizing a 1-1 match for Transylvania. The second set elapsed approximately 55 minutes as the Pioneers mustered 20 kills in the period.
Transylvania corralled an early 10-6 lead in the third set but the Lions whittled away at the Pioneers for the duration of the set, leading to another thriller. With the set tied at 15-all, the Pioneers went on a 6-1 run and appeared to be in the clear with a 21-16 advantage. However, the Lions clawed back, taking an eventual 25-24 lead to turn the match back in their favor.
The Pioneers showed off another dose of grit, earning set point at 26-25, 28-27, and 29-28 while fighting off 25-24 and 27-26 deficits. Transylvania went on to score four of the final five points of the second consecutive marathon set, using two kills from Jackson, a kill from Miller, and a set-closing ace from Miller for the defining 30-28 win.
With the memory of their recent regular-season meeting in mind, Mount St. Joseph refused to quit as the Lions sought to force a fifth set. The Lions erased a slim deficit with four straight points to grab a 12-10 lead, but the Pioneers scored another string of four of five points to take a 14-13 lead. The Lions scored three straight points to go on top again before the Pioneers used four straight points on three kills by Miller and an ace from Ward to seize an 18-16 advantage.
Leading 21-17, the Pioneers held off nonstop spirited scores by the Lions down the stretch; Mount St. Joseph gnawed away at a late 23-20 deficit, but kills by Holcomb and Scheper finished off the Lions, sending the Pioneers back into the HCAC Championship match, a rematch of the fall 2019 championship showdown between the Pioneers and Quakers.
The Pioneers improved their overall record to 22-12 on the season and 9-2 against HCAC opposition between regular season and tournament play while the Lions' 2021 campaign concluded at 18-9 overall and 8-2 against HCAC opponents.
Transylvania will aim to upend Earlham for the first time this season after the Quakers won the lone meeting of the season in their regular-season match on October 13 in a three-set sweep in Richmond. Transylvania is aiming for what would be its third consecutive tournament championship and its second consecutive trip to the NCAA Tournament with a potential win on Sunday.
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