RICHMOND – The Earlham College volleyball team has qualified for the 2022 Heartland COllegiate Athletic Conference Tournament by finishing the regular season in third place in the conference standings. 

THE TEAMS

Transylvania University earned the first seed in the tournament and the regular-season championship by going undefeated in conference play this season. The Pioneers won the tournament championship last year after coming into the tournament as the third seed. 

Mount St. Joseph finished as the second seed for the third straight season with an 8-1 conference record. The Lions were only defeated by Transylvania in the regular season. Mount beat the Quakers 3-1 in the conference opener on 10/1.

Earlham has the third seed with a record of 6-3, with losses to Transy, MSJ, and Rose-Hulman. The Quakers finished in the top half of the standings for the fifth-straight season this year. 

Rose-Hulman enters in the fourth spot and will be hosting the other quarterfinal matchup on Wednesday. The Engineers posted a 5-4 conference record and defeated EC 3-1 last week. 

Hanover College earned the fifth seed with a 4-5 record and will compete at Rose-Hulman on Wednesday evening for its third-straight semifinal appearance.

Bluffton University earned the final spot in the tournament with a 4-5 record. The Beavers will have to take on Earlham for the second time in four days after the Quakers won 3-2 on Saturday. 

THE SCHEDULE

By earning the third seed, the Quakers will host a quarterfinal game on Wednesday, November 2 against Bluffton University. First serve is slated for 7 pm in Druley Performance Gym. A Quaker win on Wednesday would send EC to the HCAC Tournament at Transylvania University on Saturday. The Quakers would face off with Mount St. Joseph University at 5 pm in Lexington, Ky. for a shot to play for the tournament title on Sunday. 

THE PLAYERS

Maria Young leads the Quakers in kills with 356 on the season. The junior from Bedford, Va. was named HCAC MVP last season and went on to earn third team All-America honors. Young has posted 3.36 kills per set with a .202 attack percentage. In addition, Young has scored 33 aces and caused 42 blocks for the season. 

The other constant in the Quaker offense is Liv Kyrk. Kyrk has scored 233 kills  with a .246 percentage on the season. The 5'11" junior has 55 blocks on the season in addition to her powerful strikes. 

The offense runs through Erin Wagner at the setter position. The senior from Amarilo, Texas has over 900 assists this season and over 2,600 in her career. Wagner also leads the Quakers in service aces with 37. 

Jen Shamel dominated the EC backline as libero. The senior has collected 476 digs in 2022, and has 1,361 across her four years. 

As a team, the Quakers average 10.9 kills per set and have an attack percentage of .144.

HOW TO FOLLOW

Goearlham.com will have all the latest information on scheduling and love coverage for the tournament. Additional links below will direct to relevant tournament webpages. 

TOURNAMENT HOMEPAGE