The Pioneer volleyball team won three of their four matches at the Rose-Hulman Tournament in Terre Haute, Indiana this weekend. The Pioneers split their first two matches, defeating Greenville 23-30, 19-30, 30-25, 30-20, 15-12 before falling the Eureka 31-29, 19-30, 8-30, 30-24, 16-14 before sweeping on Saturday with a 30-27, 30-28, 30-23 victory over the host school and 30-26, 30-19, 30-18 finale victory over Dominican.

On Friday night, the Pioneers opened the tournament with a 3-2 victory over Greenville. After going down 2-0, the Pioneers rattled off a 30-25 and 30-20 victory to force a fifth game. They took the deciding game 15-12 to earn the match victory. Sara Kettler (senior, Dana Point, Calif.) led the team with 12 kills. Kettler also had six solo blocks and a block-assist in the match.

In the second match, the Pioneers fell 3-2 to Eureka. This time, it was the Pioneer opponent who managed to come back and force a fifth game. The Pioneers took a 2-1 lead after a dominant 30-8 performance in the third game. Eureka took the fourth game 30-24. The two teams battled in the deciding game with Eureka sneaking away with a 16-14 victory. Nicki Smith (senior, Brea, Calif.) paced the Pioneers with 15 kills. Kelsey Clark (junior, Estacada, Ore.) had 12 kills with one error on 20 attempts (.550 attack percentage). Clark had seven solo blocks and a block-assist in the match.

On Saturday morning, the Pioneers handed host-team Rose-Hulman their lone loss of the tournament, sweeping them 3-0. Katherine Fielder (freshman, San Diego, Calif.) led the Pioneers with 14 kills. 

In the final match, the Pioneers again got out the brooms and swept Dominican (Ill.). Nicki Smith and Katherine Fiedler each logged 11 kills.

Nicki Smith had 45 kills in the tournament to lead the Pioneer offense. Sara Kettler had 38 kills, 13 solo blocks and five block-assists.

The Pioneers have one final non-conference tune-up game, playing Wednesday evening, Sept. 12, against cross-town NAIA school Concordia. Check back for post-matchs stats and recaps.