CANTON, Ohio -- On Friday night, the Malone University volleyball program celebrated their senior class of 2021 prior to taking on the Kentucky Wesleyan College Panthers in Great Midwest Athletic Conference action.

The Pioneers (2-5, 2-5 G-MAC) were able to come out on top in a tightly contested, five-set 23-25, 25-20, 25-22, 22-25, 15-12 battle with the Panthers (1-6, 1-6 G-MAC).

MOMENTS THAT MATTERED
The opening set was a precursor for how the entire night played out. Neither team was able to hold much more than just a two or three point lead at most for the entire set. 

At one point, Malone was able to open up a 17-14 advantage on a Ri'Gyn Humes kill and a pair of KWC errors, but the Panthers quickly responded with five points of their own to move ahead 19-17. 

The Pioneers found themselves trailing 23-20 late in the set, but the defense forced a pair of Panther errors and senior Elizabeth Selleny scored an ace to tie the match at 23-23. 

Unfortunately Kentucky Wesleyan was able to answer with back-to-back kills to score a 25-23 win in the first set. 

In the second set the Panthers opened up a big advantage, leading by as many as five points early on. That quickly changed when kills by Anna Hopple and Cierra Gurney started a comeback for Malone. The Pioneers eventually took the lead at 9-8 on two more kills from Humes and an ace by Gurney. 

Malone did not trail for the remainder of the set. Although KWC was able to keep things close the Pioneers were able to close out set two with a 25-20 win to even the match at 1-1. 

Set three saw Malone race out to an early lead. Three Panther attack errors and a kill by Gurney had the Pioneers on top 11-6.

KWC tried to fight back down the stretch, getting to as close as 21-20, but back-to-back points from Gurney and a kill from Taylor Small pushed Malone's lead out to 24-21. The match ended on a Kentucky Wesleyan attack error, and Malone moved ahead in the match 2-1. 

Set four was almost a complete opposite of the third. This time it was KWC who jumped out early. The Panthers scored the first five points unanswered, and at one point held an 8-2 advantage. 

Midway through KWC was leading 17-12 before a huge run from Malone tied the set. Humes put down two more kills, Gurney scored two more aces, and the defense forced another Panther error to make it 17-17.

The teams traded points back and forth, but eventually it was Kentucky Wesleyan who picked up the 25-23 win to force a decisive fifth set. 

The Pioneers were forced to mount a huge comeback in the fifth set, as KWC took an early 5-2 lead. Malone fought back to tie the match several times, once at 8-8 and again at 10-10.

MU actually went ahead 12-10, but two straight KWC points tied the match back-up. Malone refused to let the win slip away however, as back-to-back kills from Anna Mallette combined with a KWC error gave the Pioneers the 15-12 set win and the 3-2 match victory. 

PIONEER POINTS

• Ri'Gyn Humes had a monster individual performance as she scored points in several different ways for the Pioneers. The sophomore from Tampa, Florida finished with a season-high 12 kills to go along with 5.5 total blocks. 

• Despite only playing in four of the sets, Anna Mallette finished with 10 kills. She has yet to record less than 10.5 points in a match this season

• Cierra Gurney finished with her best offensive performance of the season. She had a season-high 10 points including four service aces. 

• Playing in one of their final matches inside Osborne Hall the senior class shined. Abbie Swaino assisted on 21 of the team's points, Elizabeth Selleny had a team-high 18 digs, Brooklyn Sullivan had 2.5 total blocks to go along with four kills, and Savannah Line posted a career-high five digs and scored her first kill of the season.

WHAT'S NEXT?
Malone will close out their scheduled home matches next week by hosting Trevecca Nazarene University. The Trojans will travel to Osborne Hall for a 7:00 p.m. match on Monday night.