Lexington, Ky. - The No. 3 Transylvania volleyball team completed its marathon journey to defending its conference crown on Sunday afternoon, defeating the No. 13 Mount St. Joseph University Lions 25-16, 25-18, 25-13 in the Heartland Collegiate Athletic Conference Tournament Championship match at the Beck Center.

Winning their most recent HCAC Tournament title in November 2019, the Pioneers completed a delayed 2020 season on Sunday by sweeping past the Lions to repeat as conference tournament champions, completing a 15-1 overall season.

The Pioneers put together an 8-1 record in the 2020-21 regular season to finish at the top of the regular season standings for the second straight season and matched their 2019 output by winning the conference tournament in six straight sets.

HCAC Tournament Most Valuable Player Karrington Jackson led the Pioneers back to the top of the championship mountain with a team-high 10 kills against zero errors for an attacking percentage of .667 on Sunday. The sophomore provided six blocks in a supreme performance after posting eight kills to one error in Friday's semifinal win over Bluffton.

Trailing 5-3 early in the first set, the Pioneers suddenly seized momentum of the afternoon by scoring eight of the next 12 points to build an 11-7 lead. Transylvania completed the opening set on a 5-1 run off kills from Madison Sweeney, Sylvie Miller, and Jackson. The Pioneers amassed a match-best 13 kills in the first set to establish control of the day.

The Pioneers showed off their defense in the second set as the Lions committed nine errors. Transylvania jumped out to a 7-2 lead that the home team would not relinquish through the rest of the afternoon as the entire match witnessed just two lead changes.

As they did in the first set, the Pioneers closed out the second set with vigor by scoring four of the last five points as Jackson provided the final of her four set kills.

Transylvania completed its march to the championship trophy with precision, tallying 11 kills to two errors in the final set for a .333 attacking percentage. Behind opening kills from Sweeney to commence the third set, the Pioneers raced out to a 5-1 lead to complete a dominant 12-point win in the final set.

Sweeney finished the championship match with eight kills and one block and was named along with Jackson to the HCAC All-Tournament Team.

Grace Ward was also selected to the HCAC All-Tournament Team from Transylvania after registering a match-high 24 assists, seven digs, and three kills. Ava Beltsos led all players with 16 digs and added two aces.

Sunday's championship victory further cements the richest era in the 19-year history of Transylvania Volleyball. After winning the outright HCAC regular-season and conference tournament championships and clinching their inaugural NCAA Tournament win for the first time as a program in 2019, the Pioneers have replicated the HCAC achievements in 2020-21. Transylvania also completes its delayed 2020 campaign with its highest AVCA national ranking in program history at No. 3.

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