The Malone University volleyball team won its eighth-straight Great Midwest Athletic Conference (G-MAC) contest Friday night in Columbus, caging the Panthers of Ohio Dominican University in four sets, 25-22, 17-25, 25-18, 25-16. With the victory, the Pioneers improved to 8-1 in the G-MAC and 13-5 overall this season. By virtue of Findlay's loss to Lake Erie on Friday, Malone now shares a lead with the Oilers for first place in the conference standings.
                                                                           
Recap
Malone started off slow in the opening set, struggling with the serve receive as the Panthers landed three early aces on their way to a 15-10 lead. Still trailing 19-14 later in the set, Malone head coach Tanya Hockman took a timeout to re-focus her troops. The timeout worked wonders as the Pioneers responded by winning the next five points to tie it at 19-19. Following an ODU kill, Malone went on another 5-0 run before a Brooklyn Sullivan kill eventually secured the set.
 
After winning 11 of the last 14 points in the first set, the Pioneers won 10 of the first 11 in the second, staking claim to a 10-1 lead as they seemed to be in control of the match. The Panthers roared back, though, using a five-point run and a nine-point run to edge out Malone 24-7 down the stretch and even the match at a set apiece.
 
Much like the second set, the Pioneers took a nine-point lead, 11-2, to begin the third. But much like the second set, they squandered that lead almost immediately as ODU battled back to tie it at 14-14. Unlike the second set, Malone answered back this time, winning 10 of the last 12 points to go up two sets to one. The Pioneers then rolled to victory on the strength of 16 kills and a .480 attacking percentage in the final frame.
 
For the match, Malone totaled 49 kills and a .236 hitting average. The Panthers also landed 49 kills but hit just .146 as their 28 attack errors proved to be the difference in an otherwise even match.
 
Veronica Gehring, the reigning G-MAC East Player of the Week, continued her outstanding play on Friday night, leading Malone with 15 kills. It was the sixth time in Malone's last seven conference matches that Gehring tallied at least 15 kills.
 
Mallory Adams finished with 10 kills while Faith Lau posted eight kills to support the Malone attack. Cathryn Miller dished out a team-high 20 assists along with three service aces. Freshman setter Abbie Swaino added 15 assists. Adams, Lau and Maggie Hamrock each tossed in a pair of aces
 
Defensively, Hamrock and Adams collected 13 and 12 digs respectively. Swaino, meanwhile, celebrated her birthday with her second collegiate double-double as she finished with 11 digs. Adams led Malone with four blocks as Gehring, Brooklyn Sullivan, and Hannah Eliason each recorded three.
 
Up Next
The Pioneers, who now sit all alone in first place in the G-MAC East Division following Walsh's loss to Cedarville on Friday night, will face Cedarville on Saturday at 3:00 pm. Live video link for that match can be found at portal.stretchinternet.com/Malone.