The Malone University volleyball team suffered a pair of setbacks at the Eckerd College Invitational Saturday in St. Petersburg, Florida. The Pioneers opened the morning with a four-set loss to West Liberty University and then came back in the early evening to battle through five sets against Tiffin. Malone leaves the Sunshine State with a 1-3 record.

West Liberty 3, Malone 1 (25-19, 25-14, 13-25, 25-18)
Senior Faith Lau led Malone with 11 kills and 17 digs to earn her first double-double of the year. Hannah Eliason totaled 10 digs, seven digs, and two blocks while Anna Mallette and Rachel Santos each contributed eight kills and Kayla Jarosz followed with seven kills in a balanced attack.

Setter Abbie Swaino charted 19 assists and three kills while Elizabeth Selleny handed out 16 helpers to go along with 12 digs. Abby Hasebein collected 16 digs and Brooklyn Sullivan tallied three blocks to lead the defense up front.

Tiffin 3, Malone 2 (27-25, 25-21, 18-25, 19-25, 15-9)
The Pioneers played well against their G-MAC opponent, fighting back from two sets down to force a decisive fifth, but they ultimately came up short of completing the comeback.

Malone landed 71 kills in the match, the most in nearly a decade. Four different Pioneers recorded double digit kills, including Hannah Eliason (16), Kayla Jarosz (15), Faith Lau (13), and Rachel Santos (10). Anna Mallette followed with nine kills and Brooklyn Sullivan had seven. Setters Abbie Swaino (28) and Elizabeth Selleny (26) combined on 54 assists.

Among the defensive digs leaders were: Sydney Black (19), Swaino (career-high 18), Lau (18), and Selleny (10). Eliason produced five blocks while Santos added three.

Up Next
Malone returns to northeast Ohio for a non-conference road test against Notre Dame College this Tuesday, September 10 at 7:00 pm