The Malone University volleyball team lost a pair of matches to GLIAC foes Walsh University and Northern Michigan University on day one of the Mizuno Midwest Region Volleyball Crossover at the Great Lakes Center in Aurora, Illinois. The Pioneers captured the first set in each of the two matches but were subsequently dispatched both times in four sets.
 
In the opener, Malone ran out to an early 5-0 lead before Walsh eventually closed the gap to within one point at 23-22. A Walsh foot fault and a Sydney Black service ace gave the Pioneers a 25-22 win. Walsh countered with a 25-23 win in the second set in which Malone led by as many as five points. The Cavaliers closed out the match with consecutive 25-17 third and fourth-set wins, hitting .369 in the process. The Pioneers, meanwhile, struggled with the service game, committing 13 service errors and 15 reception errors, including eight in the fourth and final set.
 
Mallory Adams led the Malone attack with 17 kills. In addition, Adams collected her second double-double of the season, finishing with 11 digs. She also reached a personal milestone, surpassing 500 career kills in the match.
 
Veronica Gehring added 13 kills to go along with a trio of blocks. Maggie Hamrock provided three service aces. Setters Tori Hall and Cathryn Miller contributed 20 and 16 assists respectively. Lynsey Trusty paced the backrow with 22 digs while Hannah Eliason led the blocking unit with five blocks.
 
In Friday's nightcap, the Pioneers earned an exciting 31-29 victory over Northern Michigan in the first set that featured 12 ties and four lead changes. In the final three sets, however, Malone had no answer for a powerful Wildcats' attack that hit an impressive .453 and totaled 47 kills. NMU posted .556 and .600 attacking percentages in the second and fourth sets respectively as they closed out the match with 25-16, 25-20, 25-11 victories.
 
Freshman Faith Lau fueled the Pioneers' offensive attack with 14 kills and a .355 hitting percentage. Veronica Gehring was close behind with 13 kills with Mallory Adams adding nine kills. Tori Hall served up four aces and dished out 28 assists.
 
Lynsey Trusty tallied a team-high 18 digs to lead the defense while Hannah Eliason provided three blocks.
 
With the losses, Malone fell to 4-19 on the season.  Despite the poor record, Malone has won the first set in 13 of its 23 matches.  The youthful Pioneer squad will look to reverse the trend on Saturday at 2:00 pm ET (1:00 pm CT) when they face Lake Superior State (MI). Preview notes with a link to live stats are available by clicking here.