Lexington, Ky. – The Transylvania volleyball team celebrated its 2021 season Senior Day by maintaining its grip upon greatness and the Heartland Collegiate Athletic Conference with a three-set sweep of the Mount St. Joseph University Lions on Wednesday evening at the Beck Center.
The Pioneers shook off the motivated Lions in the first set 25-23 before rolling in the next two sets with 25-11 and 25-14 victories.
The Pioneers improved to 10-0 on the season and 7-0 in HCAC play while the Lions dropped to 9-4 overall and 5-2 in conference play. Transylvania won its regular season home finale on Wednesday to complete a 7-0 homestand in the 2021 regular season.
Prior to the opening serve, Transylvania celebrated the four-year careers of Kori Rudolph and Alexis Schuhmann before springing into three sets of precision play. The Pioneers and Lions each amassed 16 kills to three errors each in an opening set which see-sawed back and forth.
Trailing 15-13, the Pioneers used two kills from Madi Davis to fuel a 4-0 run for a 17-15 lead. The Lions later recaptured the lead at 19-18 and 20-19 but Karrington Jackson delivered consecutive kills to put the Pioneers back in front at 21-20.
The Lions battled to a 23-23 tie with the Pioneers, but Davis answered with her fourth kill of the opening set and the Pioneers put away the Lions on the ensuing rally for the decisive two-point win.
After registering a .394 hitting percentage in the first set, it was all Pioneers from that point on as Transylvania mustered 13 kills to just one error for a .462 attacking percentage in the second set. Transylvania used a 4-0 burst to grow a 10-4 lead. The Lions closed the gap to 14-8 but the Pioneers pulled away with a run of seven straight points as Kailey Campbell held serve to seize a 21-8 advantage to cruise to victory in the second set.
The Pioneers took over the third set, turning a 9-8 deficit into a 17-10 advantage behind a pair of aces from Schumann and Grace Ward, along with kills from Suzanne Klosterman, Sylvie Miller, and Jackson. Using a .308 hitting percentage in the final set, the Pioneers closed down the evening on a 7-1 scoring spurt to remain undefeated in the HCAC and for their overall slate.
Klosterman led all players with 11 kills while Miller added eight. Kailey Campbell collected a career-high six aces and led all players with 13 digs. Ward led all players with 34 assists.
Transylvania next plays on Saturday, February 20 in an HCAC doubleheader on the road at the Manchester University Spartans. Opening serve of the first match is set for 2:00 p.m. from the PERC on the campus of Manchester in North Manchester, Indiana.
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