Women's Volleyball | 11/10/2026 11:55:00 PM
TRAFFORD, Pa. (pacathletics.org) - The top four seeds in Presidents' Athletic Conference (PAC) Women's Volleyball Tournament Quarterfinals held serve Tuesday night, with No. 1 seed Hiram College winning in four sets and No. 2 Chatham University, No. 3 Franciscan University and No. 4 Westminster College posting sweeps to advance.
The PAC semifinal matches are now set for Thursday, Nov. 12, with both beginning at 7 pm. Hiram (16-9) will host Westminster (18-10) in the semifinals for the second year in a row, while in Thursday's other match, Franciscan (16-10) will travel to Pittsburgh to take on Chatham (15-6).
Thursday's winners will play in the PAC Tournament Championship match, scheduled for Saturday, Nov. 14th. The title game will be played at the highest remaining seed.
2026 PAC Women's Volleyball Championship Tournament
Quarterfinals - Tuesday, November 10, 2026
Quarterfinal 1 - No. 1 Hiram 3, No. 8 Washington & Jefferson 1 (25-12, 25-19, 22-25, 25-23)
- The Terriers finished the match hitting .237 and had four players with double-digit digs in a solid defensive performance.
- The opening set was close until a run of 10 straight Hiram points, fueled by three kills by Megan Chiang and two from Maggie Riley, led the Terriers to a 25-12 win and a 1-0 lead.
- Hiram's attack found a rhythm in the second set with 17 kills while hitting .333, as the Terriers used a 10-4 run to complete a 25-19 victory. Chiang was a catalyst again with five kills in the set.
- W&J extended the match with a 25-22 win in the third. The set was tied at 19 before a string of five consecutive points by the Presidents, which included two aces by Jacey English, helped W&J keep the match going.
- With Hiram leading 11-10 in the fourth, the Terriers rolled off eight of the next 11 points to take a 19-13 lead. W&J managed to get within one at 23-22, but kills by Riley and then Smotek provided the final points in a 25-23 win and send Hiram to the semifinals.
- Chiang was one of three players with double-doubles for the Terriers with 16 kills and 19 digs. Also registering double-doubles were Smotek (14 kills/14 digs) and Courtney Johnson (25 assists/15 digs).
- Riley posted a dozen kills in the victory, while Mia Nelson sent out 17 assists.
- Hiram finished the night with 87 digs, as English matched Chiang for the team-lead with 19.
- Leading W&J (8-18) was Cali Dagen with 17 kills, Brielle Moorhouse with 21 assists and Sydney Allen had a match-high 20 assists.
Quarterfinal 2 - No. 4 Westminster 3, No. 5 Thiel 0 (25-17, 25-14, 25-22)
- Although Westminster only hit .127 for the match, the Titans used big runs in each set to secure the sweep.
- Westminster ripped off a 10-2 run early in the opening set to take control and then scored the final four points to finish off a 25-17 win.
- The Titans put down 17 kills while hitting .368 in the second set to win 25-14 and build a 2-0 advantage. The attack was led by Liv Trent with five kills and Dakota Hershberger put away four in the set.
- Thiel battled in the third set, forging an 11-5 lead to start, but the Titans surged back with an 8-1 run. The Tomcats went back in front 17-15, but a 7-0 run by Westminster swung the momentum over to Westminster.
- The Titans closed out the 25-22 set win and sweep behind a kill from from Morgan O'Brien and then a block and kill from Hershberger.
- Westminster's balanced attack featured five players with 5+ kills, led by Trent and Hershberger with nine each. Hershberger hit .421 for the match with nine kills and one error on 19 swings.
- O'Brien posted a double-double with 18 assists and 13 digs to go along with seven kills and a pair of aces, while Anna-Kate Davis logged a 13-assist, 10-dig double-double as well.
- Leading the back row for the Titans was Brooke Gecina with a match-high 16 digs.
- For Thiel (12-11), Megan Darno had six kills and Jordan Yoder brought up 11 digs.
Quarterfinal 3 - No. 3 Franciscan 3, No. 6 Grove City 0 (25-19, 25-21, 25-18)
- Franciscan advanced to the PAC semifinals for the first time in program history with a sweep of the defending PAC champions.
- The Wolverines were poised to take the first set, building a 17-13 lead, but the Barons stormed back, scoring 12 of the final 14 points for a 25-19 win.
- In set two, Franciscan had a narrow 17-16 lead, but three straight kills by Logan Hickey started a a 6-2 run that propelled the Barons to a 25-21 win and 2-0 lead.
- The big run in the third set was right out of the gate, with three Hickey kills pushing the Barons to a 9-1 cushion to open the set.
- The Wolverines made a late push to get back in the set, cutting their deficit to 23-18, but a kill by Anna Guard and ace from Caroline Linklater were the clinching points to send the Barons to their first ever PAC semifinal.
- Hickey had a consistent night on attack, posting six kills in the first two sets and five in the third to give her 17 for the match to go along with 15 digs.
- Triggering the offense was Monika Peters with 17 assists and Meg Smart with 14.
- Defensively, Kaitlan Hickey collected 24 digs, while Guard, who had eight kills, also had 10 digs.
- Grove City (20-8) was paced by Kendra Klusch with eight kills, while Brooke Manfull recorded 16 assists and Lilly Wojtala had a team-best 16 digs.
Quarterfinal 4 - No. 2 Chatham 3, No. 7 Allegheny 0 (25-16, 25-19, 25-15)
- Chatham reached the PAC semifinals for the fifth time in the last six years by sweeping past Allegheny.
- The Cougars hit .393 with 13 kills and used a 10-1 blitz, highlighted by two aces and a kill from Delaney Schwind, to roll to a 25-16 opening set win.
- The second set was tied at 11, but with Schwind serving again, she hit two aces as part of a 7-0 run that lifted Chatham to a 2-0 lead with a 25-19 victory.
- Allegheny was within striking distance in the third set at 16-13, but the Cougars rolled off nine of the last 11 points, which included two aces by Kate Giannetta and a pair of kills by Paige Watson, for a 25-15 win to close out the match.
- Leading the Chatham hitters Tuesday night was Zoie Bateman with 10 kills and Annelese Atkinson with seven.
- Both Chatham setters had strong nights with Schwind finishing with 14 assists and four aces and Giannetta passing out 11 assists to go with two aces.
- The Cougar defensive efforts were led by Kelly Dougherty with 14 digs and Maddy Roberts with 11.
- The win extended Chatham's program-record winning streak to 10.
- For Allegheny (10-17), Carlee Pepperman and Reilly Mendez had seven kills apiece and Marissa Rish compiled 11 digs, 10 assists and five kills.