Malone University Athletics

The Malone University volleyball team secured its spot in the Great Midwest Athletic Conference Tournament next week with a five-set come-from-behind victory over Alderson Broaddus University Friday night in Philippi, West Virginia. Down two sets to one and facing a seven-point deficit late in the fourth set, the Pioneers rallied to even the match before hanging on in the fifth set to escape with the 25-21, 24-26, 14-25, 27-25, 15-13 victory.
 
Neither team led by more than two points in the first set before a Sydney Black service ace put Malone ahead 22-19. A kill by Mallory Adams moments later gave Malone the 25-21 first-set win. The Pioneers were in a position to go up two sets to none, leading 24-23 in the second set, but three straight points for the Battlers tied up the match at one-all. Alderson Broaddus used its second-set momentum to roll to a win in the third set in which the Malone hit -.070.
 
With their hopes of a postseason spot slowly fading, the Pioneers were on the brink of defeat trailing 9-16 in the fourth frame. Benefitting by a handful of attack errors and a few timely kills, the tenacious young squad came back to even the the set at 20-20. The set was tied five more times at 21, 22, 23, 24, and 25, but another kill by Mallory Adams followed by a kill by Faith Lau won the set and tied the match at two to two.
 
In the decisive fifth set, the two teams were tied eight more times before Adams landed two late kills to give Malone the much-needed victory. Over the course of the match, Malone and Alderson Broaddus were tied 49 times and switched leads on 22 separate occasions. 

Mallory Adams delivered a phenomenal performance for the Pioneers, posting a career-high in kills (21), digs (18), and blocks (10) as she recorded her first-ever triple-double. The sensational sophomore hit .364 in the match and totaled 27.0 points. She added an assist for good measure.
 
Veronica Gehring added to the Malone attack with 12 kills while Faith Lau and Haley Kool each contributed seven kills. Cathryn Miller and Tori Hall provided 30 and 18 assists respectively.
 
In addition to Adams' defensive efforts, Kool notched six blocks while Miller chipped in with four. Senior libero Lynsey Trusty was all over the floor once again, collecting a game-high 30 digs. Maggie Hamrock also put her kneepads to good use, finishing with 10 digs. In total, the Pioneers tallied 15 team blocks and 90 team digs.
 
The win improved Malone to 8-23 overall on the season and 4-5 in the G-MAC. The win also eliminated Alderson Broaddus from postseason contention as the Battlers dropped to 5-27 on the year and 2-7 in the conference.
 
The Pioneers will be back in action on Saturday as they close out the regular season at Davis & Elkins. Start time for that match is set for 1:00 pm.