PAINESVILLE, Ohio -- On Friday night the Malone University volleyball team opened up another weekend of Great Midwest Athletic Conference (G-MAC) play with a road match at Lake Erie College.

The Pioneers (5-7, 1-2 G-MAC) had one of their most efficient offensive efforts of the season as they cruised to a 3-0 sweep of the Storm (1-10, 0-2 G-MAC) by set scores of 25-13, 25-21, 25-18. 

MOMENTS THAT MATTERED
Malone weathered a little bit of back-and-forth scoring early on in the first set, but when Grace Rosko's kill put the Pioneers ahead 9-7 they never looked back. 

That score from Rosko ignited a 5-0 Malone run that put MU up 13-7. 

A Macy McCauley kill, combined with three errors from the Storm gave the Pioneers a 22-12 lead. 

After a Lake Erie kill, Malone closed out set one scoring the final three points in a row on kills by Anna Hopple and Ri'Gyn Humes plus another LEC error.

The second set was much closer, but the end result was still the same, a Malone win. 

A big run from the Storm put LEC up 17-16 midway through the set, but the Pioneers rebounded. 

Hopple put down another kill to tie the set, and the Storm made an error that put Malone up 18-17. 

The Pioneers never trailed again. 

Once again Malone was able to score the last three points in a row, this time on kills by Anna Mallette and Kristen Hankins combined with a LEC error, to take set two 25-21. 

The 2-0 lead in the match gave the Pioneers all of the momentum, and they never let up. 

MU ran out to an early 6-3 lead, and eventually stretched that advantage out to 17-12 on a pair of kills by Mallette and a point from Hopple.

The Storm never really threatened down the stretch, and the Pioneers closed out the match win with a 25-18 set three victory.

PIONEER POINTS

• Offensively Malone hit .224 as a team, their second highest attack percentage of the season.
• Ri'Gyn Humes totaled nine kills, a season-high for the junior. 
• Anna Mallette led the Pioneers with 10 kills. That is the sixth time she has hit the double-digit kill mark this season.
• Molly Bullion had a team-high 18 assists to push her season total out to 178. 
• Hallie Pinkerton led the way defensively with 12 digs. She now has a team-high 177 on the season.

WHAT'S NEXT?
Malone wraps up this stretch of road contests with a G-MAC matchup at Ursuline College tomorrow night. First serve from Pepper Pike, Ohio is set for 6:00 p.m.