The Malone University volleyball team split a pair of matches on day one of the Hall of Fame City Challenge in Osborne Hall on Friday, falling in three sets to Notre Dame College (OH) in the first match before bouncing back to sweep the University of Southern Indiana in Friday's finale.
Against Notre Dame, senior middle hitter
Mallory Adams spiked her 1,000th career kill. Adams, who ranks 26th among active players in NCAA DII in career kills, needed three to achieve the mark. She hit the four-digit milestone late in the first set.
Malone 0, Notre Dame 3 (26-28, 25-27, 22-25)
In an inauspicious start to Friday's opener, the Pioneers fell behind 9-1 in the first set, but were able to recover and eventually took their first lead of the set at 26-25. Three straight kills by the Falcons, however, left Malone down a set. Malone staved off four set-points in the second stanza, but again it was Notre Dame who held on late to win.
The Falcons pulled off the sweep in the final set despite hitting just .022 in the frame. Malone fell behind 10-4 and never fully recovered. Uncharacteristically, the Pioneers were guilty of 40 total errors across the three sets.
Adams recorded a team-high 12 kills to lead the Malone offensive attack.
Hannah Eliason added nine kills on a .471 attack percentage.
Faith Lau provided eight kills while
Rachel Santos chipped in with seven. Setter
Abbie Swaino collected a team-high 21 assists.
Senior libero
Maggie Hamrock posted 21 digs to lead the Pioneer defense. The 21 digs were her most-ever in a three-set match. Lau and Swaino each contributed nine digs while Eliason and
Brooklyn Sullivan tallied four blocks apiece in the front row.
Mary Kate McHugh (13 kills, 14 digs) and Alexandra Kaeberlein (22 digs) led the Falcons in the victory.
Malone 3, Southern Indiana 0 (25-15, 25-17, 25-16)
The Pioneers bounced back in a big way in the second match of the day, sweeping their Midwest Region foe with a tremendous all-around effort. Head coach
Tanya Hockman employed a new rotation and it paid dividends on both ends. Malone held the Screaming Eagles to a .039 attacking percentage, including a -.025 mark in the first set. Offensively, the Pioneers hit a season-high .248 on their way to the three-set victory.
The Pioneers overcame a 3-0 deficit in the first set before cruising to the double-digit advantage. They followed that up with a comfortable 25-17 second-set win in which they never trailed by more than a point. Malone then made it look easy in the third set, rolling out to an insurmountable 13-1 lead which was set up set by a 10-0
Maggie Hamrock service run. With the victory, Malone improved to 3-3 on the season
Hamrock tallied three aces in the match and out-did her Friday morning performance with 22 digs in the three-setter. She was aided in the defensive back row by
Cathryn Miller, who totaled nine digs, and
Sydney Black and
Abby Hasebein, who tallied eight digs apiece.
Hannah Eliason and
Rachel Santos both registered four blocks at the net.
Eliason was terrific on the attack as well, hitting .471 and posting a match-high 10 kills.
Mallory Adams tacked on eight kills and
Veronica Gehring finished with seven.
Faith Lau collected six kills and a pair of service aces. Miller guided the offense with a season-high 30 assists.
Up Next
Malone returns to the court on Saturday at 9:00 am against Seton Hill University before closing out the weekend against Daemen College at 3:45 pm.
