Box Score 1 | Box Score 2

The Malone University volleyball team hosted a tri-match on Saturday against the University of Findlay and Wheeling Jesuit University (WV) but lost a pair of three-set contests to the Oilers and Cardinals.

In the opener against Findlay, Malone fell by the slimmest of margins in set one 26-24, lost set two 25-15 and battled in another nail-biter in set three, losing by a 28-26 margin. Then, in the day's finale, the Pioneers lost to the NCAA Division II #22 ranked Wheeling Jesuit squad 25-13, 27-25, 25-15. In the middle match of the day, Wheeling Jesuit topped Findlay by scores of 25-18, 25-15 and 25-21.

With the two overall losses on the day, Malone fell to 12-16 overall and, with the one conference loss, dropped to 7-9 in the GLIAC.  Fellow GLIAC member Findlay, with its overall split, now has a record of 19-10 overall , and with the conference win, stands at 10-6 in GLIAC play.  Wheeling Jesuit improved to 28-5 overall with its pair of victories.

In the Malone-Findlay match, the visiting Oilers held a 44-35 edge in kills and a 59-48 advantage in digs while the Pioneers topped Findlay in both service aces (6 to 3) and block/block assists (16-10).

Outside hitter Sarah Brent paced the Pioneers in kills in the match with nine and contributed four block assists on defense.  Outside hitters Anna Hays and Taylor Slauterbeck along with middle hitter Lauren Townley  each racked up seven kills in the match.  Townley's three service aces led the team and she also collected a team-best five block assists and two solo blocks. Libero Katie Hasebein pocketed a team-high 13 digs. In addition, setters Brianna Clegg and Kimberly McCracken tallied 16 and 14 assists in the match, respectively.

In the Malone-Wheeling Jesuit match, the Cardinals topped the Pioneers in kills by a 37-25 margin while holding a modest edge in digs 50-43.  Wheeling Jesuit also held advantages in service aces , 5-2, and in blocks/block assists, 17-13.

Slauterbeck paced the team in kills with 12 and also notched seven digs in the match.  Outside hitter Elizabeth Maczuzak tallied five assists and also pocketed a team-best two solo blocks (with an additional two block assists).  McCracken added 15 more assists to her season total in this match while Hasebein contributed a team-high 12 digs.  In addition, Clegg posted nine digs and Allison Kirby recorded five digs.

Malone will close out its regular season next weekend as the squad travels to Tiffin University (12-13, 3-13 GLIAC) on Friday evening for a 7:00 p.m. match and then to Ohio Dominican University (12-16, 6-10 GLIAC) on Saturday for a 2:00 p.m. contest.  The Pioneers are battling for one of eight spots in the GLIAC postseason tournament and will likely need to win both contests in order to qualify (top eight overall from both sides – North and South – qualify).  Live stats will be available at Tiffin at http://livestats.prestosports.com/tiffin/ and also at Ohio Dominican at http://livestats.prestosports.com/ohiodominican/.