2016 G-MAC Championship Bracket | Official G-MAC Championship Page
 
The Malone University volleyball team will make its debut in the Great Midwest Athletic Conference Volleyball Championships this Thursday, November 17th when it takes on Kentucky Wesleyan College in a quarterfinal matchup at the Mason Arena in Mason, Ohio. Match time is scheduled for 7:30 PM. The winner will meet Cedarville University on Friday in the semifinal. The winner of the G-MAC Championship will receive an automatic bid to the NCAA National Tournament.
 
Match & Media
(11/17) Malone vs. Kentucky Wesleyan – 7:30 pm in Mason, Ohio
Live Video and Stats: portal.stretchinternet.com/gmac
Twitter: @maloneathletics

Team Notes
Malone (9-23, 5-5 G-MAC) Roster | Schedule | Stats

• The Pioneers enter the tournament riding the momentum of four straight G-MAC victories, including a pair of road wins at Alderson Broaddus and Davis & Elkins last weekend.
• Malone received a triple-double performance from Mallory Adams in the must-win match against Alderson Broaddus. She posted career-highs in kills (21), digs (18), and blocks (10) to lead Malone to the comeback victory. Adams is the only player in the G-MAC with 300+ kills (358), 150+ digs (166), and 75+ blocks (97.0).
• While Adams finished 3rd in the conference in total kills, her classmate Veronica Gehring finished 8th with 298 kills. The talented outside hitter has tallied double-digit kills in 12 matches this season, averaging 2.41 kills per set. Gehring quietly reached her 500th career kill in the win over D&E.
• Also in the win over D&E, freshman outside hitter Faith Lau tied a season-high in kills (15) and set a new mark with 14 digs. Lau has four double-doubles on the season and finished the regular season as one of only two G-MAC freshmen to average more than two kills per set (2.16 k/s).
• Setters Cathryn Miller and Tori Hall have combined for seven double-doubles this season. The pair contributed 95 assists in the two wins last weekend.
• Senior libero Lynsey Trusty leads the Pioneers' backrow with 608 total digs. She has put together one of the finest defensive seasons in Malone history, becoming just the 7th player to record to record over 600 digs in one season. Her 4.90 digs per set average is the 4th-highest in Pioneer history.
• Trusty has had help in the backrow from Maggie Hamrock (203 digs) and Sydney Black (190 digs). Black led Malone with 34 service aces on the season and ranked 10th in the conference with 0.28 per set.
• Senior middle hitter Haley Kool ended the regular season with career-highs in total kills (204) and total blocks (102). She finished 5th in the G-MAC with 0.82 blocks per set to lead the Pioneer defense at the net.
• Kool, along with Trusty, is one of two Pioneers to play in all 124 sets this season. She is also the only Pioneer on the roster with postseason playing experience.
• In 2014, Malone was swept by Findlay in the quarterfinals of its only-ever appearance in the GLIAC Tournament. Kool tallied two kills and a block in the loss.
• Malone is just 2-8 on the season on neutral courts but swept Notre Dame in the most recent neutral-court matchup.
   

Kentucky Wesleyan (10-15, 4-6 G-MAC) Roster | Schedule | Stats

• The Panthers finished up the regular season with three straight losses and will be on a 13-day hiatus by the time they face Malone on Thursday.
• KWC edged out Malone in five sets 25-22, 25-23, 14-15, 22-25, 15-6 in the only meeting between the two teams this season.
• Outside hitter Audrey Baysinger led the team with 15 kills while Elizabeth Gober added 11 kills in the win over Malone. Defensively, Nicole Venema paced the Panthers with 24 digs while middle hitter Sierra Morrow contributed five blocks.
• Morrow finished 6th in the G-MAC in service aces (0.35 sa/s) and 10th in attacking percentage (.205). Venema ranked 6th in the conference with 4.18 digs per set.
• Kentucky Wesleyan lost in the first round of the 2015 G-MAC Championships to Trevecca Nazarene in five sets