The Malone University volleyball team earned a hard-fought 3-1 win over visiting Tiffin University on Friday evening in Malone's Osborne Hall by the score of 26-24, 30-28, 23-25, 25-14. With the win, Malone improved to 14-14 overall on the season and to 10-7 in the GLIAC while Tiffin fell to 12-14 overall and to 6-11 in conference play.

With one match remaining in the regular season (tomorrow at home against Ohio Dominican University), Malone is still very much in contention for a spot in the eight-team GLIAC tournament which begins next Wednesday.  With a victory against ODU on Saturday, Malone would secure a spot in the playoffs. The Pioneers could still make the playoffs, even with a loss to the Panthers, but it will depend on the outcomes of the other conference matches on Saturday.  The top four seeds in the event will host seeds five through eight in first-round competition.  In addition, the seeding will be according to best GLIAC record with no regard for which division a team is in. With the highest seed attainable being sixth for Malone, the Pioneers will not host a playoff contest.  

With a balanced attack in which three Pioneers tallied a team-high 13 kills each, Malone was led by middle hitters Elizabeth Maczuzak and Haley Kool and outside hitter Anna Hays while outside hitter Sarah Brent followed with nine kills. Setters Jordan Sollars and Brianna Clegg offered up 27 and 21 assists, respectively.

Maczuzak was also strong on defensive as she paced the squad in blocks with three solos and two block assists while Kool added three block assists of her own. In addtion, Katie Hasebein racked up an impressive 34 digs in the four-set match.

Malone will host Ohio Dominican tomorrow (Saturday) in a 2:00 p.m. contest to close out the regular season. Seniors Hays, Clegg, Hasebein and Taylor Slauterbeck will be recognized as it will be the final regular-season contest for the foursome.