Box Score Danville, Ky. – The No. 9 Transylvania volleyball team won its first match in the Bluegrass this season, sweeping the Centre College Colonels, 25-17, 25-19, 25-19 on Tuesday night at Alumni Gymnasium.
Fresh off a 4-0 showing in Southern California last weekend to start the season, the Pioneers played their first match of the season in the state of Kentucky on Tuesday against their neighbor and archrival.
The Pioneers dashed the extended undefeated hopes of the Colonels, handing Centre its first loss of the season with a dominant defensive performance. Centre dropped to 4-1 while the Pioneers continued their season-opening win streak with a 5-0 record.
Newly-minted Heartland Collegiate Athletic Conference Offensive Player of the Week Cate Scheper paced the Pioneers with 14 kills while Grace Ward spread around the wealth with a match-high 27 assists. Sylvie Miller presided over a defensive-minded team effort with a match-high 17 digs in a night of long rallies and diving hustle plays.
The first two-thirds of the evening featured a defensive clinic by the Pioneers, who forced the Colonels into a plethora of errors at home; the Pioneers amassed 20 digs in the first set while holding the Colonels to a negative .045 hitting percentage in the opening set. Transy built an early lead in the opening set before Centre closed within three points at 12-9. The Pioneers countered with an 8-2 run to cruise to a set one victory.
Scheper led off the second set with a ferocious kill to galvanize the Transy offense. Centre tied up the set early at 4-4, but the Pioneers showed off their firepower with four straight points to open up their first big cushion of the frame.
Transylvania's defense remained superb and unwavering; Ward provided the highlight of the night with a kick save on the 13th point of the set, eventually leading to Scheper's seventh kill of the game. The alert reflex from Ward was part of a set-defining 8-0 run by Transy to put the set on ice. Centre had one last stand to cut its deficit to 23-19, but Ward stopped the run with a timely kill and Beltsos wrapped up the set with an ace.
Transylvania used tenacious offense to close out the match, outkilling the Colonels 16-7 and winning the hitting percentage difference substantially, .344 to .054. Madison Sweeney had four of her nine kills in the final set as the Colonels were forced to contend with Pioneer hammers from all angles.
Kaetlin Ethington and Karrington Jackson each had identical outputs of five kills and three blocks apiece as the Pioneers showed off their depth in Danville.
Transylvania continues its season-opening roadshow this weekend in the Windy City for three matches at the UChicago Invite tournament. The Pioneers play two matches on Saturday, September 11 against #15 Millikin University at 2:00 p.m. Eastern and #16 University of Chicago at 7:00 p.m. Eastern time in their first tests against Top 25 teams this season.
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