Claremont, Calif. – The No. 11 Transylvania volleyball team emerged from its season opening weekend unbeaten, beating the Eastern Nazarene College Lions in three sets and the Whittier College Poets in four sets on Saturday at Roberts Pavilion on the campus of Claremont-Mudd-Scripps Colleges.
Following their mastery of Pomona-Pitzer and California Lutheran the day before, the Pioneers completed their trip to the Los Angeles metro with a 4-0 record, having defeated three teams from the Southern California Intercollegiate Athletic Conference.
Cate Scheper fueled the fire up front for the Pioneers with a game-high nine kills in the 25-15, 25-17, 25-15 win over Eastern Nazarene in the morning session and 15 kills in the 25-19, 25-21, 21-25, 25-23 victory over Whittier in the nightcap.
The Pioneers made quick work of Eastern Nazarene in their first match on Saturday, erupting for a .429 attacking percentage in the opening set, and only committing seven combined errors the rest of the way to an efficient victory for their third of the season. Transylvania used a 5-0 opening run in the second set and another oncoming 4-0 run to build an early 9-4 advantage and maintain the upper hand on the Lions. Eastern Nazarene closed within two points at 18-16, but Scheper responded with back-to-back kills to fuel a run of seven of the final eight points in the set to close out matters succinctly.
Gianna Pixler punctuated a dominant third set with a match-sealing ace, one of 10 in the match for the Pioneers. Grace Ward led Transylvania with 21 assists while Sylvie Miller led the way in digs with eight and provided two aces.
Transylvania used another efficient opening to clinch the first set against Whittier, reeling off a .308 attacking percentage to build their momentum for the afternoon. The Pioneers broke an early 8-8 tie in the second set with an ace by Mason Morrow and a successive pair of kills from Scheper to create the necessary distance for a 2-0 match lead.
Whittier asserted itself in the third set, crafting an early lead that the Poets would maintain for the duration of the set. After trailing by as many as eight points, the Pioneers closed within two late in the set on a Madison Sweeney kill, but the Poets came up with a series of clutch frontline plays to seal the third set victory.
Transylvania had victory within reach in the fourth set, building a 22-17 lead following a Karrington Jackson kill, but the Poets scored six straight points to take a one-point lead and pose an upset. But the Pioneers packed their bags with perfection as Madison Sweeney came up with a kill, Madi Davis and Scheper forced a block at the net, and Scheper provided the 25th point as the Pioneers scored the final three points of the day.
Ward tallied 40 assists in the capper while Jackson led all players with seven blocks. Ward and Miller each had 12 digs apiece.
Transylvania aims for five straight wins to start the season when it heads to Danville, Kentucky on Tuesday, September 7 for an archrival match against Centre College. Opening serve is set for 7:00 p.m. from Alumni Gym on the campus of Centre.
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