TERRE HAUTE, IND. -- Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology swept Manchester 25-11, 25-16, 25-15 to earn a key Heartland Collegiate Athletic Conference victory on Senior Day.
With the victory, Rose-Hulman secured a first round home game in the HCAC Tournament on Tuesday night. The fourth-seeded Fightin' Engineers will host No. 5 seed Hanover College Panthers at 7:30. The winner advances to the semifinal round at Defiance next weekend.
Senior Casey Levitt (Thousand Oaks, Calif./Westlake) led the Engineer offense with 15 kills. Freshman Katelyn Race (Columbia, Mo./Rock Bridge) added nine kills and a team-high four service aces.
Freshman Morgan Dreyer (Batesville) led the team with 21 assists and had six kills. Sophomore Sarah Jensen (Overland Park, Kan./Blue Valley Northwest) contributed 20 assists and five kills to the effort.
Defensively, senior Kate Dangel (Upper Arlington, Ohio) had a team-high 15 digs, while Jensen contributed nine digs. Senior Catherine Fiutem (Harrison, Ohio/Oldenburg Academy) added six kills and two service aces to the effort.
The Fightin' Engineers also honored their three seniors prior to the match. Dangel has tallied 1,582 digs to move into fourth place on the career list. Fiutem has recorded 477 kills, 213 blocks and 193 digs at Rose-Hulman, while Levitt has career totals of 968 kills, 1,193 digs and 119 blocks.
Rose-Hulman improved to 15-17 overall and 5-4 in HCAC play with the victory, while Manchester dropped to 7-18 and 2-7 in HCAC play. The Fightin' Engineers host Hanover on Tueday in the first round of the HCAC Tournament.
