HANOVER, Ind. -- Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology capped a memorable 20-12 season with a three-set loss to Hanover College in the Heartland Collegiate Athletic Conference Volleyball Championship Match on Sunday afternoon at Collier Arena.

The Fightin' Engineers reached their first HCAC Tournament Championship match since 2011 to highlight the season.  Rose-Hulman also earned a first-round bye in the HCAC Tournament for the first time as the event's No. 2 seed.  The squad reached Sunday's HCAC Final with a four-set win over Transylvania University in the semifinal match on Saturday.

With the victory, Hanover will represent the HCAC in the NCAA Division III Tournament with a 26-5 overall record.

Hanover earned the victory by a 25-22, 26-24, 25-16 margin.  The Panthers led throughout the first set, before a late Rose-Hulman rally brought the deficit to 25-21.  In set two, Rose-Hulman led early and scored three straight points to knot the score at 24-24 before Hanover captured the win.  The Panthers clinched the tournament title with a fast start in the third set.

Offensively, Marissa Gollnick led the Rose-Hulman offense with 13 kills.  Bailey MacInnis added 12 kills, and Adekite Oladipupo contributed eight kills.

Katie Orbeta had a team-high 25 assists, and Alison Rogozinski contributed nine.  Gabi Razma led the squad with 16 digs to cap her career with a school record 2,655 digs.  Orbeta had 13 digs, and Becca Poppel recorded 10.  Mackenzie Gossard led the blocking effort with three block assists.

For their efforts, Razma and Gollnick earned spots on the event's all-tournament team.

The contest marked the final match for an outstanding Rose-Hulman senior class including Gossard, Poppel, Razma and Rogozinski.  Hanover was led by Kelsey Brandvik with 10 kills.  Haley Alexander and Abby Crump added 20 assists each.