The Malone University volleyball team picked up an important Great Midwest Athletic Conference (G-MAC) road win over Cedarville University by a 25-23, 24-26, 25-22, 28-26 final score Tuesday night in Cedarville. The Pioneers earned their third consecutive victory to improve to 8-6 on the season and 4-2 in the G-MAC. The Yellow Jackets, meanwhile, dropped to 2-11 on the year and 1-5 in the G-MAC. The win was Malone's first in four matches against Cedarville since joining the G-MAC in 2016.
 
Recap
As the scores would indicate in the closely-contested rivalry, neither team could assert itself over the course of the match, but the Pioneers found just enough of an advantage to claim the victory. In total, the two squads were tied 32 times and changed leads on 14 separate occasions in a seesaw battle.
 
Malone fought back from a 12-6 deficit, its largest of the match, in the first set before a Veronica Gehring kill and a Cedarville attack error eventually gave the Pioneers a 25-23 win. Neither team hit particularly well in a scrappy second set which featured 56 digs and just 20 combined kills. Looking to take control of the match, Malone turned a 20-19 deficit into a 24-21 advantage, but the Yellow Jackets saved three straight set-points before tying the match at a game apiece on the end of a 5-0 run.
 
The Pioneers responded with a 25-22 win in a momentum-shifting third set that featured five kills from Mallory Adams and 15 assists from Cathryn Miller.
 
Despite a 4-0 start by Malone, the final frame played out much like the first three as the two teams battled through nine ties, including five straight from points 22 to 26. The Yellow Jackets held off three-straight match-points before a kill by Gehring and an assisted block by Miller and Hannah Eliason finally ended the marathon match, which surpassed the two-hour mark.
 
Middle hitters Mallory Adams and Hannah Eliason were outstanding all night on both sides of the net. Adams totaled a season-high 17 kills to go along with three aces, six digs and four total blocks. Eliason collected 13 kills, the second-most in her career, in addition to eight blocks, which tied for a career-high.
 
Senior setter Cathryn Miller handed out 44 assists, one shy of a season-high, while adding three kills, 11 digs and a season-high six blocks. Classmate Veronica Gehring reached 10 kills for the second straight match.
 
Defensively, Maggie Hamrock scooped up 24 of the Pioneers' season-high 91 digs to equal a season-high. Sydney Black added 15 digs, marking the second-most this season, while Abby Hasebein contributed nine digs and Sierra Lau collected a career-high seven digs. Rachel Santos provided four blocks.
 
Cedarville's Taylor Wilkerson accounted for a match-high 21 kills and 25 digs. Lauren Willow recorded 11 kills and a match-high eight blocks.
 
Up Next
Malone will look to continue its winning ways this Friday and Saturday with home matches against Kentucky Wesleyan and Trevecca Nazarene.