The Malone University volleyball team saw its seven-match win streak snapped on Tuesday in a five-set non-conference affair with West Liberty University. The Pioneers won the first set 26-24, but dropped sets two and three 19-25 and 16-25. After forcing a fifth set with a 25-23 win in the fourth, Malone lost on 12-15 in the final frame. The Pioneers dropped to 12-5 on the season. Malone also dropped to 4-1 in five-set matches, suffering its first five-set defeat on Tuesday.

Recap
In an battle of outstanding defenses, the Pioneers took the early upper hand, never trailing in the opening set. The Hilltoppers, who came into the match ranked 2nd in the nation in total digs, frustrated the Malone attackers in the next two sets, however, getting to nearly every ball as they took a 2-1 lead.

Malone battled back in the fourth set to even things up. A late 6-0 run and a set-clinching kill by Veronica Gehring forced a decisive final set. The West Liberty defense once again came up big in the fifth, holding Malone to just five kills and six attack errors (-.033 attacking percentage) as the Hilltoppers pulled away for the win.

West Liberty limited Malone to a .062 attacking percentage in the match, never letting the Pioneers hit better than .098 in any set. The Toppers finished with 114 digs and 19 blocks in the marathon match.

The Malone defense was impressive in its own right, collecting a season-high 106 digs along with seven blocks. Mallory Adams posted a career-high 26 digs to lead the Pioneer back row. Maggie Hamrock was one short of a tying a career-high with 25 digs. Sydney Black finished with 16 digs while Cathryn Miller added 11 digs. Rachel Santos recorded a team-high four blocks.

Faith Lau led the Malone attack, tying a career-high with 15 kills. Lau (.220 attacking percentage) was the only Pioneer to hit better than .200. Adams landed 14 kills to come away with another double-double. Gehring totaled 11 kills while Miller distributed a team-high 28 assists.

West Liberty was led by Raimey Benson (17 kills) and Kailee Cunningham and Caitlin Clarke (26 digs each).

The Pioneers will be back in action this weekend (October 6th & 7th) against Great Midwest Athletic Conference (G-MAC) West Division rivals Ohio Dominican and Cedarville.