The Malone University volleyball team picked up a big Great Midwest Athletic Conference win over Ursuline College Wednesday night by the final scores of 25-20, 23-25, 25-23, 26-24. With the win, the Pioneers climbed to 3-5 in the G-MAC and strengthened their hold on the sixth spot in the conference standings while Ursuline dropped to 4-4 in the conference and 15-12 overall.

After beating Alderson Broaddus on Saturday, Malone won its second straight game for the first time this season. Wednesday night's win avenged a five-set loss to Ursuline 29 days ago. In that match, the Pioneers led two sets to one before surrendering wins in the fourth and fifth sets.

Leading two sets to one on Wednesday, the Pioneers saw themselves down 13-19 late in the fourth set. They responded with five straight points to bring it to 18-19. Later in the frame, facing set point at 23-24, Malone battled back to win the final three points to claim the decisive win on the Arrows' home court.

The Pioneers collected just 37 kills in the match compared to 56 for Ursuline, but took advantage of 61 errors by the Arrows. Malone also fared well at the net defensively, finishing with 12 team blocks.

Faith Lau and Veronica Gehring each delivered a team-high 10 kills while Mallory Adams was close behind with nine kills. Setter Tori Hall added three kills to go along with 15 assists. Defensive specialist Sydney Black contributed to the scoring with three service aces.

Senior libero Lynsey Trusty was all over the court in the match, collecting a team-high 26 digs in the four-set win.  Hall and Maggie Hamrock added 10 digs each from the backrow. At the net, Haley Kool and Hannah Meckstroth both totaled six blocks while Adams notched five blocks.

Malone, who will wrap up G-MAC play next weekend, improved to 6-21 overall on the season. The Pioneers will look to extend their hot hand this Saturday in a challenging non-conference tri-match with Notre Dame (OH) and NCAA DII #5 Wheeling Jesuit.