Terre Haute, Ind. – The Transylvania volleyball team unfurled its latest dominant performance on Sunday afternoon in a three-set sweep of the Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology Fightin' Engineers at Hulbert Arena.
The Pioneers held court for the afternoon with a 25-12, 25-14, 25-23 victory over the Engineers to improve to 7-0 on the season and 4-0 in Heartland Collegiate Athletic Conference play. Rose-Hulman dropped to 2-3 overall and 2-3 in HCAC play.
The three-set mastery of the Engineers marked the sixth time in seven matches that the Pioneers have defeated an opponent in three sets.
Transylvania took control from the outset scoring the first seven points of the afternoon. The Engineers found their rhythm with three unanswered points but the Pioneers soon reeled off another six points in a row for a 14-4 advantage. Madison Sweeney provided her fifth kill of the first set to close out the 13-point win.
The Pioneers produced a .226 hitting percentage to a .024 hitting percentage by the Engineers in the first set to forecast a one-sided afternoon in favor of the reigning conference champions.
The second set opened up with a see-saw of scoring between Transy and Rose-Hulman but a kill by Madi Davis knotted the set at 8-8 and set off a run of four straight points to give the Pioneers their first cushion of the set at 11-8.
After a point claimed by the Engineers, Transylvania responded with another patented run as Kailey Campbell held serve for five straight rallies en route to a 17-10 Pioneer lead. Karrington Jackson had two kills and an assist during the decisive scoring run. The Engineers scored three straight points to cut the Pioneer advantage to 17-12 but the Pioneers scored eight of the final 10 points in the set to go up two sets to none.
Transylvania appeared to be putting the Engineers to bed easily in the third set, climbing ahead 5-0. The Engineers showed their resolve, battling all the way back to tie the set at 19-all after a 6-0 run of their own.
But emblematic of their early season start, the Pioneers again found diverse and inventive ways to win in clutch situations. With the set tied in the final stages, Grace Ward fooled the Engineer defense with a dump to give the Pioneers a 21-20 lead, a margin which would hold for the rest of the brief afternoon.
The Engineers came up with an error to spot the Pioneers a two-point lead and recovered with a kill, slicing the Transy lead to 22-21. Suzanne Klosterman then came up with one of her match-high nine kills to put the Pioneers in control at 23-21 before Rose-Hulman scored again. Klosterman rose to the occasion for her second consecutive kill, giving the Pioneers match point at 24-22.
Rose-Hulman stayed alive with a score to set up a dramatic 24-23 game. In a long rally which went back and forth, Sylvie Miller finally provided the winning point, punching the ball across the left side of the floor to find the target and the 25th point.
Jackson followed Klosterman with eight kills while Miller provided eight kills coupled with 16 digs. Ward led all players with 31 assists and Campbell topped the Pioneers with 19 digs.
Transylvania generated a .252 hitting percentage on the afternoon compared to a .055 mark for the Engineers.
The Pioneers are scheduled to next play on Wednesday, February 10 at the Franklin College Grizzlies in Franklin, Indiana for a doubleheader. The conference matchup commences the night at 6:00 p.m. followed by the nonconference matchup between the Pioneers and Grizzlies from the Spurlock Center.
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