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Atlanta, Ga. – The Transylvania volleyball team battles the No. 12 Berry College Vikings in the opening round of the 2021 NCAA Division III Women's Volleyball Championships on Thursday, November 11 at 3:00 p.m. at Woodruff P.E. Center on the campus of Emory University.

Transylvania (23-12 overall, 7-2 Heartland Collegiate Athletic Conference) and Berry (25-2, 13-1 Southern Athletic Association) will face off for the second time this season in their first ever NCAA Tournament meeting for the right to advance to Friday's 4:30 p.m. second-round match of the Atlanta Regional, hosted by Emory University. The winner of the Friday semifinals advance to the regional championship match on Saturday at 7:00 p.m. for one of eight berths into the Final 8 of the NCAA Championships, hosted at Francis Fieldhouse on the campus of Washington University in St. Louis.

The marquee opening-round matchup serves as a clash between the conference tournament champions of the Heartland Collegiate Athletic Conference in Transylvania, and Berry, which won the Southern Athletic Association regular season and conference tournament crowns.

Transylvania is making its second overall trip to the NCAA Tournament in program history and its second consecutive appearance in the NCAA postseason; the Pioneers won the HCAC tournament for the first time ever in the fall of 2019 and secured their third straight conference tournament championship this past Sunday with a definitive 4-set victory against Earlham.

Berry, hailing from Rome, Georgia, located approximately one hour north of this week's regional in Atlanta, won the SAA regular season and clinched an automatic berth into this season's NCAA Tournament by sweeping Birmingham-Southern College in Sunday's SAA Championship match. Berry carries a 10-match winning streak into the NCAA Tournament while Transylvania is peaking at the right time, riding a five-match win streak into Thursday's tournament opener and having won 10 of its last 11 matches.

The winner of Friday's first-round contest will continue on into the second round match to be played the following day, Friday, November 12 at 4:30 p.m. The semifinal winners will advance to the regional championship on Saturday night in primetime at 7:00 p.m. with all seven matches being held at Emory's campus. The regional champion advances to the following week's final round of 8 on November 18-20.

Transylvania is coached by fourth-year head coach Amy Barmore, who has guided the Pioneers through their most robust era in program history. Barmore carries an overall head coaching record of 81-31 (.723) into her second NCAA Tournament appearance. Berry is steered by head coach Caitlyn Moriarty, who enters her sixth year at the helm of the Vikings and sports an overall record of 140-30 (.824).

Thursday's tournament clash marks the second time the teams have squared off in the 2021 season; Transylvania hosted Berry on Friday, September 24, with the Vikings squeezing out a five-set victory, capped off by a 16-14 final in the fifth set at the Beck Center.   

 

ATLANTA REGIONAL SCHEDULE – 2021 NCAA DIVISION III VOLLEYBALL TOURNAMENT (All times Eastern)

Thursday, November 11

GAME 1 - 12:30 PM – Washington and Lee vs. Southwestern

GAME 2 - 3:00 PM – Transylvania vs. Berry

GAME 3 - 5:30 PM – Texas-Dallas vs. Christopher Newport

GAME 4 - 8:00 PM – Southern Virginia at Emory

Friday, November 12

GAME 5 - 4:30 PM – Regional Semifinal 1 (Game 1 winner vs. Game 2 winner)

GAME 6 - 7 PM – Regional Semifinal 2 (Game 3 winner vs. Game 4 winner)

Saturday, November 13

GAME 7 – 7 PM – Regional Championships (Game 5 winner vs. Game 6 winner)  

 

TICKET INFORMATION

Single-match tickets

Adults - $6

Students with ID, Seniors - $4

Children under age 12 - $3

Children age 2 and under – Free

 

All-Session tickets

Adults - $12

Students with ID, Seniors - $10

Children under age 12 - $7

Children age 2 and under - free

 

COVID PROTOCOLS at Woodruff P.E. Center for NCAA Tournament

-An indoor masking policy is in effect for everyone inside the Woodruff P.E. Center for all sessions of the Atlanta Regional. All coaches, team personnel, and spectators are required to wear a mask at all times indoor.

Transy vs. Berry – THE REMATCH   

The tournament opener for Transylvania and Berry also serves as the second meeting of the year between the Pioneers and Vikings. The teams came together for a championship prelude on Friday, September 24 in Lexington, Kentucky in a match defined first by dominance, then grit, momentum swings, and finally clutch plays to close out the night.

The match transpired into one of the wildest Division III contests of the season; Berry handily took the first two sets, winning 25-18 and 25-13. The Pioneers countered with a gritty 28-26 win in the third set to keep the match alive, and cruised to a 25-19 victory in set four to force a fifth set.

Trailing 12-9 in the fifth set, the Pioneers erased the deficit and tied up the final set at 14-all. But Berry found back-to-back scores to secure a thrilling win.

Cate Scheper tallied what was at that time a career-high kills with 19 on the night while Grace Ward had 37 assists. Sylvie Miller paced the Pioneers that evening with 20 digs.

In their first bout, Berry tallied a .184 attacking percentage to Transy's .102 attacking figure. Berry won the margin in kills, 62-49 and the aces margin, 12 to 6.

 

VIKING CONQUERORS

Berry enters the Atlanta Regional as the No. 2 seed behind host Emory, riding its imposing overall record of 25-2 on the season. Berry rides into the NCAA Tournament on a roll, fresh off its SAA Championship win in straight sets over Birmingham-Southern, 25-17, 25-19, 25-14 to post a 10-match win streak.

The Vikings are guided by sophomore OH Jazzy Innis, who excelled as the 2021 SAA Tournament Most Outstanding Player during Berry's tournament championship. The sophomore leads the Vikings in kills with 277 on the season. Another key performer for Berry is junior setter Emily Rapach, who ranks 20^th in the country in assists with 10.12 facilitations per set. Rapach stood atop the SAA with 860 assists.

The Vikings sport a stout defense, led by senior libero Laura Beier, who ranks fifth in the country in digs per set (6.13 dps) and has amassed 576 total digs this season. Other key weapons for the Vikings include freshman middle blocker Cypress Guenther, the team leader in hitting percentage (.390), and junior outside hitter Peyton Breissinger, who ranks third on the team in kills with 235 finishes.

A TRADITION OF EXCELLENCE

Transylvania enters its second ever NCAA Tournament in the midst of its strongest run in program history. For the first time ever, the Pioneers won their third straight HCAC conference tournament championship, this time doing so as the No. 3 seed in the tournament. The Pioneers' win last Sunday at No. 1 seed Earlham marked the first time that the Pioneers have captured the conference title on the road, taking two straight matches in Richmond, Indiana to secure the conference's automatic berth. Earlier this season, the Pioneers were ranked as high as No. 9 in the AVCA Top 25 poll.  

HCAC Tournament Most Valuable Player, sophomore setter Grace Ward is coming off of a career-high 59 assist performance in Saturday's HCAC semifinal win over Mount St. Joseph; Ward is second overall in the HCAC in total assists with 1,004 dimes this season and most recently produced a 44-assist, 12-dig, and four-kill output in the championship clincher over Earlham.

Freshman frontliner Cate Scheper is another Pioneer who has provided ample power since the start of the season. The newly-crowned HCAC Newcomer of the Year and All-HCAC First Team selection ranks 10^th in the country in kills with 452 on the season and is just one of 24 players nationwide to register 400 kills or more during the fall 2021 campaign.

Junior middle blocker Karrington Jackson punctuated her second straight All-HCAC season with a team-high 82 blocks to rank top-3 in the HCAC in rejections. Jackson was named to the HCAC All-Tournament Team this weekend on the heels of a season-high 16 kills against Mount St. Joseph while furnishing a .488 attacking percentage over the semifinal and championship rounds.

Sophomore outside hitter Madison Sweeney ranks second on the Pioneers in kills with 221 terminations this season as she claimed her first All-HCAC honors and sophomore outside hitter Suzanne Klosterman follows closely with 205 kills this season. Klosterman had a star-studded season with her first HCAC Honorable Mention selection to go with a spot on the HCAC All-Tournament Team. The sophomore had a season-high 14 kills in the all-important championship match win against Earlham.

Junior defensive specialist Sylvie Miller leads the Pioneers as the mainstay of the program. The lone player to appear in the 2019 NCAA Tournament for Transylvania, Miller leads the team in digs with 521 on the year. Miller is top-50 in the country in total digs this season.

The Pioneers sport a 23-12 record, marking the third time over the last four full seasons the Pioneers have won 20 or more matches in a season.

 

TRANSYLVANIA NCAA TOURNAMENT RECORD

Overall: 1-1

2019: 1-1 (Beat Birmingham-Southern in 1^st round, 3-1, Lost to Emory in 2^nd round, 3-1)

 

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