Box Score 1 | Box Score 2

North Manchester, Ind. - The Transylvania volleyball team roared to its latest collection of three-set sweeps of a conference opponent on Saturday afternoon with a 25-23, 25-17, 25-16 win over the Manchester University Spartans and a 25-15, 25-18, 25-13 win to complete a doubleheader at Stauffer-Wolfe Arena. 

 

Transylvania strengthened its undefeated record to 12-0 overall and 7-0 in the Heartland Collegiate Athletic Conference while Manchester fell to 1-19 overall and 0-8 in conference play.

 

The first sweep of the day by Transylvania counted as a conference contest while the Pioneers added a second nonconference-official win over the Spartans for size to augment their undefeated record.

 

Madison Sweeney and Suzanne Klosterman each registered nine kills while Madi Davis added seven. Grace Ward led the way with 33 assists and added nine digs, three kills, and a block in the first sweep of the afternoon.

 

Transylvania won the first set in a wildly dramatic manner, taking the first nine points of the day before witnessing the Spartans collect 10 unanswered points to on top at 10-9. The lead continued to seesaw from that point on before the Pioneers erased a 17-15 deficit before rallying for four straight points and a 19-17 advantage.

 

Manchester staked its claim to an upset by turning a 20-18 deficit into a 22-20 advantage, capped off by an ace. But the Spartans missed long on the next service and Kori Rudolph caught fire with two straight aces to give Transylvania a 23-22 lead. The Spartans tied up the first set one more time before Sweeney and Davis delivered set-sealing kills for the 25-23 win.

 

The Spartans climbed ahead 6-0 in the second set but the Pioneers quickly settled, taking a 9-8 lead behind successive kills from Davis and a timely ace from Ava Beltsos. The Spartans won the next point for a 9-9 ballgame in the second, but the Pioneers reeled off a 9-2 scoring run to pull away for a two sets to none lead.

 

Transylvania's defense finished off the conference-certified win by forcing the Spartans into eight errors and a .030 hitting percentage in the final set to win by nine. Sylvie Miller had six of her match-high 20 digs in the final set to anchor a resistant Pioneer defense.

 

 

 

The Pioneers began the day with emphasis from the initial serve, producing a swift win the opening set, buoyed by a 14 kill to two error ratio for a .429 attacking percentage. Transylvania expanded upon a 10-7 lead with an 11-1 scoring run as Ward held serve for eight straight points. Klosterman added three late kills in set the set before the Pioneers put their early stamp on the afternoon.

 

Transylvania erased an early 4-3 deficit in the second set with a run of five straight points to craft an 8-4 advantage. Later leading 9-7, the Pioneers reeled off another five unanswered points behind three kills from Davis for a 14-7 upper hand. Manchester later sliced its deficit back to three points at 18-15 but Klosterman and Sweeney ignited another string of points en route to the eight-point margin.

 

The final set was another masterpiece for the Pioneers with a match-best 15 kills as Transylvania put together a .344 attacking percentage to clinch the win.

 

Klosterman led all players with 11 kills while Erin Nerland provided nine kills and Davis spiked down eight.

 

Ward led the way with 31 assists while Kailey Campbell tallied a match-high 14 digs.

 

Transylvania returns to play tomorrow at Anderson University for one conference match scheduled for 12 Noon from the O.C. Lewis Gymnasium. The match is a makeup from a postponed match that was originally scheduled to commence the season on January 23^rd.

 

For more on Transylvania volleyball, follow @TransylvaniaWVB on Twitter

 

 

 

 

 

For more on Transylvania volleyball, follow @TransylvaniaWVB on Twitter