NORTH MANCHESTER, Ind. – The Manchester University volleyball team delivered a big performance in the opening match of its home tri-match on Saturday October 16.

The Spartans knocked off Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology in straight sets to earn their second Heartland Collegiate Athletic Conference win this week.

The set scores of Saturday's opener were 25-14, 25-16, and 26-24. The Spartans hit .206 against the Fightin' Engineers and concluded the opening set with an 11-point rally.

For the opener, Halle Planck (Gas City, Ind./Mississinewa) tallied 6 kills and 5 solo blocks. She also had 9 digs. Sara Shultz (Churbusco, Ind./East Noble), Samantha Campbell (Brownsburg, Ind./Brownsburg), and Erika Kramer (Greensburg, Ind./North Decatur) added 8, 7, and 7 kills, respectively in the win over Rose-Hulman.
Carly Ripberger (Tipton, Ind./Tipton) had 24 assists in the straight-set sweep over RHIT. She added 11 digs. Both Shultz and Rachel Ressler (Tipton, Ind./Tipton) also had 11 digs in the win.

The win over the Fightin' Engineers was the first for Manchester since 2015.

The Spartans concluded Saturday's home tri-match with a non-conference tilt against St. Mary's (Ind.). The Belles got the better of the Spartans, winning in four sets by set scores of 25-11, 16-25, 25-22, and 25-21.

Joy Maze (Greenwood, Ind./Greenwood Community) led the Spartans with 14 kills and 23 digs against St. Mary's. Halle Planck added 11 kills on the strength of a .258 hitting percentage.

Helaina Walters (Marion, Ind./Eastbrook) chipped in 15 digs.

The Spartans (10-11, 2-3 HCAC) will take on Franklin College eon the road at 7 p.m. on Wednesday October 20.