The Malone University volleyball team dropped a four-set decision (21-25, 21-25, 25-20, 20-25) to Walsh University Tuesday night in Osborne Hall in the two rivals' mutual Great Midwest Athletic Conference (G-MAC) opener. With the loss, Malone fell to 5-4 on the season while Walsh improved to 7-2.
 
Recap
Following a 14-14 deadlock in the opening set, the Pioneers fell victim to a 9-0 Walsh run as the Cavaliers held off a late comeback to go ahead 1-0. In a back-and-forth second set, neither team would win more than three straight points, but the visitors claimed the set after winning four of the final five.
 
Malone took advantage of 16 Walsh errors in the third set to force a fourth and final set. The Cavs cleaned up their act in the frame and countered an early 6-0 Malone run with a 6-0 run of their own midway through before winning six of the final eight points to claim the four-set triumph.
 
The Pioneers were led by Rachel Santos' 11 kills. Faith Lau chipped in with nine kills while Mallory Adams totaled seven. Veronica Gehring and Hannah Eliason added to the Malone attack with six kills apiece. Setters Cathryn Miller and Abbie Swaino provided 21 and 14 assists respectively.
 
Maggie Hamrock led the Malone defense with 16 digs. Adams collected nine digs while Lau finished with eight. Brooklyn Sullivan led the Pioneers with three blocks.
 
The Cavaliers out-hit Malone .196 to .105, totaled 58 kills to Malone's 42, and collected 84 digs to Malone's 64. Four Cavaliers finished with double-digit kills.
 
Looking Ahead
Malone will continue G-MAC play this weekend with road contests at Trevecca Nazarene and Kentucky Wesleyan.