The Malone University volleyball team suffered its first two blemishes of the season Friday on day one of the Westminster College Invitational in Salt Lake City, Utah. The Pioneers lost their first match to the University of West Alabama in four sets (20-25, 25-21, 25-27, 8-25) before being swept by Harding University (AR) (17-25, 20-25, 21-25).
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West Alabama 3, Malone 1
After posting a three-set win over West Alabama last weekend, Malone struggled against the Tigers on Friday, hitting just .078 with 38 kills compared to 54 kills for their opponents. In a momentum-shifting third set, Malone squandered a five-point lead and lost two set points before UWA came back to win both the set and eventually the match.
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Mallory Adams collected a team-high 11 kills for Malone, one more than
Rachel Santos' 10.
Faith Lau and
Veronica Gehring evenly split 14 kills while
Cathryn Miller was credited with 29 assists. Adams and Lau each added a pair of service aces.
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Four Pioneers, including Miller (17),
Maggie Hamrock (13), Adams (12), and
Julia Marino (10), totaled double-digit digs totals.
Brooklyn Sullivan added seven blocks, Santos chipped in with five.
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Harding 3, Malone 0
In Friday's second match, the Pioneers started off slow, hitting -.036 in the first set and failed to make up lost ground as the Bison rolled to a three-set victory.
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Veronica Gehring led Malone with 14 kills and a .333 hitting percentage.
Faith Lau added nine kills in the loss.
Elizabeth Selleny collected a team-high 15 assists.
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Defensively,
Maggie Hamrock and
Mallory Adams each posted a team-high nine digs while
Julia Marino provided eight.
Brooklyn Sullivan and
Cathryn Miller recorded three blocks apiece.
Up NextÂ
Malone, now 4-2 on the season, will be back in action on Saturday, September 9th for two more matches. The Pioneers will take on Western New Mexico at 2:00pm ET (12:00pm MT) before closing out the Tournament against the hosts Westminster College at 8:00 pm ET (6:00 pm MT). Links to watch both matches can be found at:
https://portal.stretchinternet.com/westminster/
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