GRANVILLE, Ohio – November 5, 2021 - With the conclusion of the 2021 regular season, Hiram women's volleyball is set to take part in the 2021 North Coast Athletic Conference (NCAC) Volleyball Tournament as the No. 4 seed.

Hiram, in their third season under Head Coach Brittany Dye, finished the season at 14-14 with a 5-3 NCAC record, winning their final four conference games of the season.

"We are excited for this weekend and hope to make some noise in the NCAC tournament," Dye said. "Our conference has seen some teams take big strides forward, creating more parity in the NCAC."

Seniors Kiara Franks and Kayla Cole led the way for the Terriers during the regular season. Franks led the team with 309 kills, while Cole tallied 285. The tandem was nearly identical in kills per set this season with Franks at 3.06 and Cole at 2.97. Both seniors also crossed the 1,000 career kills mark this year.

As a team, Hiram averaged 11.1 kills per set this season. Statistically, Franks finished with the fourth-most kills in the conference this season, while Richardson had the fifth-most total blocks and Brannon was in the top five in the conference in both total digs and digs per set.

On the assist front, it was the duo of Emily Chrustic and Mary Landis that led the category. Chrustic led the team with 470 assists and 5.28 assists per set. Landis, a freshman, was second on the team with 352 and 4.09 assists per set.

Defensively, Mackenzie Brannon led the charge with 520 digs at 5.20 digs per set. The junior currently sits at 985 career digs. Cole was second tallying 309 digs on the year and 3.22 digs per set.

Freshman Emily Richardson led the team with 100 blocks.

Collectively, Hiram led the NCAC in digs (606) and service aces (72) in conference play. Additionally, the team finished in the top five in kills, assists and total blocks.

The Terriers play the winner of No. 5 seed Wooster and No. 8 seed Oberlin in their first match of the NCAC Tournament.  

"You can never count on previous results, which is why this week in the practice gym is incredibly important for us," Dye said. "We face the winner of Oberlin/Wooster and we know that both are strong teams who will come in ready to battle."

Hiram defeated both Oberlin and Wooster in their regular season meetings. The Terriers took down the Fighting Scots in five sets at Wooster on Saturday, Oct. 23. In the final home match of the campaign, Hiram defeated the Yeowomen in three sets that included a big set-three comeback.

With no 2020 tournament due to COVID-19, Hiram entered the 2019 tournament as the No. 5 seed and defeated No. 8 Oberlin in three sets before falling to No. 4 seeded DePauw, 3-2.

Should Hiram beat Wooster or Oberlin, they will play the No. 1 seed Denison on Saturday, Nov. 6 at 12 p.m.

The Terriers will take on the winner of Wooster and Oberlin in the second round of the NCAC Tournament on Friday, Nov. 5 at 6:00 p.m. at Livingston Gymnasium in Granville, Ohio on the campus of Denison University.