The Malone University volleyball team closed out competition at its Hall of Fame City Challenge on Saturday by notching a 1-1 record. 
 
In the opener, Malone sank the Lakers of Mercyhurst University 25-18, 29-27, 25-21 in a straight sets sweep. Facing a 21-24 deficit in an exciting second stanza, the Pioneers fended off five set points en route to the 29-27 win.
 
The trio of Mallory Adams, Veronica Gehring, and Haley Kool evenly divided 27 kills in the victory while freshmen Sydney Black and Hannah Eliason rounded out the Pioneers' balanced offensive attack with eight and six kills respectively. Adams' .643 attacking percentage (nine kills on 14 attacks) marked a new career-best. Setter Cathryn Miller assisted on 34 of Malone's 42 team kills. Defensive specialist Maggie Hamrock recorded five service aces as Miller and Julia Marino tallied two aces apiece.
 
Defensively, senior libero Lynsey Trusty set a career-high for the second consecutive day after collecting 21 digs. Hamrock checked in with seven digs while Kool, Eliason, and Adams each tallied three blocks.
 
The Lakers' Lauren Kenny finished with a game-high 10 kills.
 
In the nightcap, Southern Wesleyan University fought back from a two sets to none deficit, downing the Pioneers in five sets by scores of 16-25, 20-25, 25-23, 25-18 and 15-10.
 
Adams and Gehring just missed their respective career-highs in kills as Adams notched 18 and Gehring finished with 15. Kool added 10 kills on just 18 attempts (.444 attack percentage) to go with six blocks while Eliason chipped in with nine kills and five blocks. 
 
Miller filled up the stat sheet with 41 assists, two aces and 10 digs while Trusty ended the match with a team-best 14 digs.
 
Sarah Hughey racked up 24 kills and eight digs to pace SWU.

All-Tournament Team
In recognition of their strong play throughout the weekend, Kool and Trusty were named to the All-Tournament Tteam
 
The Pioneers, now 2-2 overall, will be back in action next weekend with three matches at the University of Findlay.  Malone will take on Ohio Dominican University on Friday at 5:00 p.m.  Then on Saturday, the squad will take on Hillsdale College at 9:00 a.m. and the host Oilers at 3:00 p.m.