Lexington, Ky. – The Transylvania women's volleyball team overcame an early bump in the opening set of the afternoon to remain perfect on the season with a decisive 3-1 set victory and a 3-0 win in the second match of Saturday afternoon's doubleheader over the Defiance College Yellow Jackets at the Clive M. Beck Center.
After a hot start from the Yellow Jackets, the Pioneers fought back to take the opening conference match with a 21-25, 25-16, 25-15, 25-15 victory and a 25-16, 25-15, 25-21 second-match victory to improve their overall record to 9-0, and 6-0 in Heartland Collegiate Athletic Conference play on the year. Defiance drops to 4-9 overall and 3-4 in HCAC play.
Defiance issued the first challenge on Saturday afternoon with an 8-4 run to start the set, a cushion it would never relinquish throughout the set as the lead continued to build for a 25-16 win and a 1-0 set lead. The set was just the third the Pioneers have conceded this season.
Head Coach Amy Barmore quickly rallied her troops, and the Pioneers returned to the form responsible for their perfect record.
After exchanging points early in the set, the Pioneers were propelled by a 10-0 run to claim a 13-5 lead. The Pioneers leaned on their early burst to cruise to a nine-point set victory, capped off by back-to-back kills from Sylvie Miller and Grace Ward.
The Pioneers capitalized off of a poor 0.033 hitting percentage from the Yellow Jackets, with a 0.154 hitting percentage of their own.
Transylvania struck first in the third set by opening a 6-1 lead, powered by a pair of kills from Karrington Jackson and Madison Sweeney. Six of the next ten points scored by the Pioneers were assisted by Grace Ward as they extended their lead to 16-4, pushing forward to a crucial ten-point set victory, and a 2-1 lead in the match.
The Pioneers showed their efficiency in the third set with a 0.342 hitting percentage with 15 kills to only 2 errors.
As the decisive fourth set began, a flurry of runs from both the Pioneers and the Yellow Jackets led to a 9-7 score in favor of Transylvania. This juncture served as another launch point for an explosion of offense from the Pioneers as Alexis Schumann held serve for 12 straight points fueled by multiple kills from Jackson, Sweeney, and Sam Walton to push them in front, 21-9.
The run pushed the Pioneers over the finish line with a Suzanne Klosterman kill and a 25-15 set victory.
Jackson led the way with a career-high 16 kills to go along with three blocks. Miller had an all-around performance with 10 kills, one ace, and team-high 16 digs for the match. Kailey Campbell provided a much-needed spark with a match-high four aces in the victory.
The Pioneers rode all of their positive momentum into the second match with a strong 11-kill performance from Klosterman to lead the team in that category. Ward continued her stellar performance with 40 assists paired with four aces for a 90-assist day in total. Miller and Rudolph led the Pioneers defensively with nine digs apiece.
Transylvania opened up a quick 19-8 lead in the first set after capitalizing on errors from Defiance and three consecutive aces from Ward. The Pioneers did not look back and went on to win the set 25-16. The Pioneers held a steady lead in the second set throughout, eventually pulling away by closing the set on a 6-0 run through precision service from Miller and timely kills from Madi Davis.
Looking to close the night out on a sweep, the Pioneers had to contend with resolve from the Defiance squad as the set remained tight with Transy leading 19-17 late. The Ward-Klosterman connection continued as the duo teamed up for four of the last six points resulting in a 25-21 set victory and a 3-0 match win for the Pioneers.
Transylvania will complete their home schedule for the season with pair of matches against their HCAC rivals, the Mount St. Joseph University Lions. The Senior Night match to commence the doubleheader is set for Tuesday, February 16th at 6:00 p.m. at the Beck Center.
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