The Malone University volleyball team saw its season come to an end on Thursday afternoon with a 15-25, 14-25, 17-25 loss to the University of Findlay in the quarterfinal round of the Great Midwest Athletic Conference (G-MAC) Championship. Despite the loss, the Pioneers finished the year 18-13 overall, marking their first winning season since 2012.
                                                          
Recap
Malone started off slow in the opening set, falling behind 6-1 on four kills and two service aces from the hard-hitting Oilers. The Pioneers would close to within one point at 10-9, but it was as close as they would get as Findlay pulled away and later won seven of the final eight points to take a 1-0 lead.
 
Findlay made it a two-set advantage with a dominant middle frame. After going up 4-3 on back-to-back kills from Mallory Adams, Malone managed just one more kill for the remainder of the set as the Oilers pieced together a 14-2 run to put it out of reach.
 
In the third set, the two teams played to a 5-5 deadlock before Findlay pulled away once again, this time on a 9-2 rally. Down 21-12 later in the set, the Pioneers cut the lead to five on a 5-1 run, but it was too little too late as the #2 seed Oilers held on for the three-set sweep and advanced to the G-MAC Semifinals.
 
Thursday's match looked much different than Malone's previous meeting with the Findlay in October when the Pioneers took the Oilers to four sets, winning the second set and losing the first and fourth by just two points. Without junior hitter Veronica Gehring, who missed the match with injury, Malone posted a season-low 19 kills on Thursday, the fewest since recording 17 at Ashland in 2015, and a season-low .043 attacking percentage. Gehring led Malone with 2.65 kills per set this season and finished just six kills shy of 300.
 
Middle hitter Mallory Adams, a Second Team All G-MAC selection, surpassed the 300-kill plateau for the second straight season after leading Malone with six kills on Thursday. Faith Lau and Hannah Eliason, who hit .417 in the match, each recorded five kills. Setter Elizabeth Selleny distributed a team-high eight assists. Defensive specialist Julia Marino, the Pioneers' lone senior, served up two aces in her final collegiate match.
 
The Malone defense tallied eight total blocks against the potent Oiler attack, but collected just 34 digs to tie a season-low. Adams and Eliason each registered four blocks to lead the way at net.  Sydney Black had nine digs to lead the back row.