On November 17th, the Transylvania Pioneers Volleyball team clinched the Heartland Collegiate Athletic Conference Tournament title for the sixth year in a row, defeating the Manchester University Spartans in the championship game. With this win, the Pioneers clinched an automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament.
After a shaky start to the non-conference portion of the season, Transy Volleyball finished the regular season on an eleven-game winning streak, which included all nine of the Pioneer’s HCAC games. Especially important was an October 23rd match against the Mount St. Joseph University Lions, who, for the third year in a row, would be the closest team in the standings to the Pioneers. The regular season conference standings, also for the third year in a row, came down to the match between Transylvania and Mount St. Joseph, and, after falling to the Lions and subsequently losing the regular season crown last year, the Pioneers would earn a hard-fought 3-0 win. The Pioneers finished an undefeated 9-0 in conference, earning the #1 seed and a first-round bye, while the Lions finished at 8-1 and earned the #2 seed.
The Pioneers opened the HCAC Tournament on Saturday, November 16th in the semi-finals against the #4 seeded Earlham College Quakers. Major runs by the Pioneers would fuel the team to a 2-0 lead, and while they dropped the third set, the Pioneers would pull away in the fourth set to secure a 3-1 win and a spot in the championship round the next day. Awaiting the Pioneers was the #3 seeded Machester University Spartans, who had upset the Lions in a thrilling 3-2 victory later on Saturday. The first two sets of the championship game followed a similar script to the semi-final round, with the Pioneers taking a 2-0 lead. After a back-and-forth third set went to Manchester, the Pioneers eventually pulled away late in the fourth, winning the set 25-19 and the match 3-1.
With this win, the Pioneers secured their sixth straight HCAC Tournament Championship. The Pioneers also took home several tournament honors, with Junior Isabella Myers, Senior Cate Scheper, and Fifth-Year Grace Ward being named to the All-Tournament Team. Ward also took home Tournament MVP after racking up 94 assists, the fourth time in her career that she has taken home the home. Ward was also honored for winning HCAC Player of the Year for the third consecutive season, far and away Transylvanai’s all-time leader in assists after surpassing 5,000 in her career.
By winning the conference tournament, the Pioneers secured an automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament. The Pioneers will travel to Atlanta, Georgia to compete in the Emory University Regional. Transylvania’s first tournament match will come on Thursday the 21st, where the Pioneers will face the Claremont-Mudd-Scripps Colleges Athenas. The semifinals and finals of the regional will take place the following Friday and Saturday.
