Women's Volleyball

HCAC 2024 Volleyball Notebook, Week 11

CARMEL, Ind. – The Heartland Collegiate Athletic Conference (HCAC) volleyball teams competed in week eleven of the 2024 season.
 
Around the League:
HCAC Volleyball Schedule
 
Athletes of the Week:
Offensive Player of the Week:
Caylee Brandes (Moline, Ill.) Earlham College | Outside Hitter | Sophomore - Caylee Brandes recorded 33 kills (4.125 kills/set) in a 2-0 week as the Quakers secured a home game in the HCAC Tournament. The sophomore hit 15 kills with a .484 percentage and seven blocks in a sweep of Berea. She then scored 18 kills with a .293 percentage and four blocks in a five-set win over Anderson.

Defensive Player of the Week:
Lily Ebright (Wichita, Kan.) Rose-Hulman Institiute of Technology | Libero | Junior - Ebright capped off her career-best junior campaign with a whopping 10.38 digs per set and 83 total digs over the week. She tallied her second-most career digs on Wednesday with 47 in the loss to Anderson. Then, on Saturday she added 36 more wins to help Rose-Hulman cap off their season with a 3-1 win over the #3 seed, Manchester. Ebright also topped the 2,000 career dig mark in Saturday's win in just three seasons of play. She finishes the season with 782 digs and 7.31 digs per set, both of which lead all players in all three divisions of the NCAA.

 
Notable Performances:
Offensive
  • Blythe Young (Avon, Ind.) Anderson University | Setter | First Year - Blythe Young led the conference in assists per set for the week, dishing out 12.56 assists per set. Young set a school record for most assists in a four-set match in the 25-point era, tallying 56 assists in Wednesday's win against Rose-Hulman. She also recorded 57 assists in five sets against Earlham.
  • Abbey McCoy (Indianapolis, Ind.) Hanover College | Sophomore - McCoy led Hanover to a 1-1 week as they stole a set from Transylvania and swept Bluffton. The sophomore tallied 21 kills averaging 3.00 kills per set. She also added 22 digs.
  • Avery Ball (Decatur, Ind.) Manchester University | Outside Hitter | Junior – Avery had another exceptional week as the Junior finished with 25 kills and seven service aces. Ball hit for a .324 attack percentage in the five-set thriller against Franklin to help lead the Spartans to their sixth conference win.
  • Julia Irmen (Navarre, Fla.) Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology | Setter | First Year - Irmen helped the Fightin' Engineers in many ways this week with 11.38 assists per set and 3.63 digs per set to help Rose-Hulman finish 1-1. Overall for the week, she totalled 91 assists and 29 digs, including a career-high 52 assists on Wednesday which ranks as the 7th-most in a single-match in school history.
  • Grace Ward (Edgewood, Ky.) Transylvania University | Setter | Fifth Year - In an HCAC win at Hanover, Ward recorded 49 assists, seven kills and four aces, as well as 16 digs. Against Berea in another HCAC win, Ward had 29 assists and three kills. The wins gave Transylvania their 10th and 11th consecutive victories to end the regular season and secured the HCAC regular season title.
Defensive
  • Lauren Dungan (Alexandria, Ind.) Anderson University | Defensive Specialist | Senior - Lauren Dungan scattered 6.73 digs per set for the Ravens. She collected 29 digs in 4 sets in Wednesday's win against Rose-Hulman. Dungan then tallied 32 digs in 5 sets against Earlham.
  • Madison Bizjak (San Diego, Calif.) Earlham College | Libero | Sophomore - Madison Bizjak led the back line in a 2-0 week for Earlham, collecting 44 digs with nine assists and three aces as the Quaker libero.
  • Madison Schicker (Fishers, Ind.) Hanover College | Setter | First Year - Schicker led the Panthers to a 1-1 week taking on Transylvania and Bluffton. The freshman recorded 24 digs averaging 3.43 digs per set. She also added seven assists.
  • Tiffany Watterson (Elkhart, Ind.) Manchester University | Libero | Sophomore - Watterson had an outstanding week on the floor putting up 52 digs in two games and averaging 5.7 digs per set. She finished with a career high of 38 digs against Rose-Hulman as the Sppartans clinched the #3 finish in the HCAC regular season. Watterson also added three service aces on the week.
  • Ava Beltsos (Cincinnati, Ohio) Transylvania University | Defensive Specialst | Fifth Year - Ava Beltsos led the Pioneers with 23 digs in an HCAC win against Hanover on Wednesday, then followed up the performance with another team leading 15 digs in another HCAC win on Saturday against Berea to close the regular season. The wins gave Transylvania their 10th and 11th consecutive wins and secured the HCAC regular season title.

Looking Forward:
HCAC Volleyball Standings