Richmond, Ind. – The Transylvania volleyball team completed its fall 2021 championship climb with a 25-23, 16-25, 25-21, 25-19 win over the Earlham College Quakers in the Heartland Collegiate Athletic Conference Tournament Championship match on Sunday afternoon at Druley Performance Gymnasium.
The Pioneers won their program record third consecutive HCAC Tournament Championship and clinched the conference's automatic bid into the NCAA Tournament.
Transylvania will advance to its second consecutive NCAA Tournament in program history following its inaugural appearance in the fall 2019 NCAA Tournament, the most recent time an NCAA national championship was held.
The Pioneers will discover their placement on the NCAA Tournament bracket, including their first-round opponent and host team destination tomorrow at 12:30 p.m. via the NCAA.com selection show. The opening rounds of the NCAA Tournament are set for November 13-14 at locations to be announced tomorrow.
The Pioneers won their first HCAC Tournament Championship as a program away from Lexington on Sunday, climbing through the bracket as the No. 3 seed to upend the No. 2 seed Mount St. Joseph Lions in the semifinals on Saturday, followed by their championship-clinching victory over the No. 1 seed Quakers on Sunday. Though the Lions and Quakers finished one game ahead of the Pioneers in the regular season standings, the Pioneers saved their final swings for the all-important conference tournament run to post a 3-0 record in the fall 2021 tournament bracket.
After previously being swept by Earlham in their lone regular season meeting of the season in mid-October, the Pioneers clinched the decisive victory in the rematch, sealing their ticket to the NCAA Tournament with a resilient performance that illustrated their chiseled championship pedigree.
Grace Ward led the Pioneers with an all-around performance, leading all players with 44 assists and adding 12 digs and four kills on the way to earning HCAC Tournament Most Outstanding Player honors. Karrington Jackson had her latest efficient performance of the tournament with eight kills, two blocks, one dig, and a .421 attacking percentage as the junior joined Ward on the HCAC All-Tournament Team.
Suzanne Klosterman had one of the finest single-match performances of her career on Sunday, fielding 14 kills to three errors, along with 11 digs as the frontliner was also named to the All-Tournament Team for Transy.
Playing in front of Earlham's raucous home crowd, the Pioneers issued the first salvo of the night, gritting out a tight opening set win behind six of Cate Scheper's match-high 19 kills. Earlham led as late in the set as 20-19, but two errors by the home team forced a 20-20 tie. With the set up for grabs, Klosterman and Scheper levied kills down the stretch to secure the crucial set for the Pioneers.
The set one loss heightened the Quakers' urgency as Earlham came out firing in the second set with a 6-1 opening lead. Earlham never looked back, seizing up the match at 1-1.
The Pioneers surged midway through the third set, erasing an early lead by the Quakers with gritty defense as Ward held serve for four straight points, turning the lead back in Transy's favor at 11-10.
Klosterman was active in the third set with seven kills to lead the turnaround for the Pioneers. Transylvania firmed up with repeated rejections at the net, continuing to push back against Earlham. Following an ace from Ward, the Pioneers grew a 21-17 advantage on the Quakers. Earlham cut the deficit back down to two points late, but Scheper and Klosterman delivered another set of closing kills to give the Pioneers a commanding 2-1 set lead.
With their third straight conference crown in sight, the Pioneers seized the afternoon, subduing the Quakers with their hardest hitting of the match. Kayden Holcomb provided a kill and an ace while Scheper yielded two early kills to spot the Pioneers an 8-3 advantage. Earlham went on a 5-1 run to slice Transylvania's lead to 9-8, but the Pioneers scored the next three points to regain control and were never threatened again.
Ava Beltsos led Transylvania with 22 digs while Sylvie Miller added 12.
Transylvania snapped an eight-match win streak for the Quakers, who dropped to 20-6 overall after suffering only their second defeat of the season to an HCAC opponent. The Pioneers also won the rematch of the fall 2019 HCAC Championship match, which marked their first of three conference tournament crowns for Transylvania.
The Pioneers will enter the NCAA Tournament with a 23-12 overall record, on a five-match win streak, and having won 10 of its last 11 matches.
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