Box Score 1 | Box Score 2 LOCK HAVEN, Pennsylvania -- On Friday afternoon the Malone University volleyball team opened up their 2021 season with two matches in the Lock Haven University Invitational. 

The Pioneers knocked off the host Bald Eagles 3-1 in the first match of the day. Malone came back to the court a few hours later, and handed Slippery Rock University a 3-0 loss to move to 2-0 on the season.

Match One: 3-1 Win vs Lock Haven University
The Pioneers jumped out 1-0 lead in the match with a 25-19 win in the opening set. It was the defensive side of the net that really made the difference for Malone in the set as the Pioneers forced Lock Haven into 11 attack errors.

Offensively it was a very balanced attack for Malone. Kristen Hankins, Anna Mallette, and Grace Rosko each had a pair of kills to help lead the Pioneers to the 25-19 win.

Despite Malone putting down 15 kills, including five from Mallette, LHU battled back to take the second set in thrilling fashion 27-25. 

The Pioneers dominated the third set. Helped by back-to-back service aces from Hallie Pinkerton, MU jumped out to an 8-1 lead, and Lock Haven never really threatened a comeback.

Ri'Gyn Humes collected consecutive aces of her own to put Malone up 22-14. Eventually the Pioneers were able to close out the set with a 25-15 win, and take a 2-1 advantage in the match. 

Malone was forced to battle back from a deficit in the fourth set. Lock Haven was ahead by as many as four points at 15-11 before the Pioneers rallied back. 

A kill by Humes made it 18-16, and Malone's defense followed by forcing back-to-back attack errors to tie the match at 18-18.

The teams exchanged points several times, but the Pioneers closed out the match with a 4-0 run that was capped off by an emphatic kill from Hankins.

Match Two: 3-0 Win vs Slippery Rock University
Malone effectively dominated their second match of the day, sweeping Slippery Rock University by set scores of 25-15, 25-14, and 25-21.

The Pioneer defense stifled The Rock, especially in the opening two sets when they forced Slippery Rock into a negative hitting percentage. 

On the other side of the net Malone's offense picked up right where they left off in the first match. 

In the first set a pair of kills by Macy McCauley, combined with two SRU errors put Malone up 10-6. Later on two kills from Anna Mallette pushed the advantage out to 15-8. Slippery Rock got a point on the board, but two more kills from Mallette plus two kills from Hankins really put the set out of reach at 19-9.

The Pioneers went on to take the first set 25-15. 

The second set played out much the same with Malone grabbing an early lead, and then pulling away from SRU midway through. A 6-0 MU run that featured four Slippery Rock errors and kills by Molly Bullion and McCauley gave the Pioneers a 14-5 lead. 

The Rock had no answer, as Malone won four out of the last six points of the set to take a 2-0 lead in the match. 

Set three looked like it would be another repeat of the earlier sets, but this time SRU was able to answer a 6-0 Malone rally with a 7-0 run of their own to take a 12-11 lead midway through the set. 

Fortunately for the Pioneers Malone was able to pull away late getting four straight points to take a 23-19 lead. Two SRU errors gave Malone the final two points needed to cap off the three set match sweep. 

Pioneer Points

• Anna Mallette finished with 19 kills on the day, including a 10 kill performance in the win over Slippery Rock. She also led Malone with 34 total digs on the afternoon.
• Macy McCauley had a stellar collegiate debut, finishing with 14 kills offensively, and 27 digs on the defensive side of the net. 
• Molly Bullion and Gabby Pelfrey combined for 47 assists on the afternoon.
• Today's wins will go down as the first NCAA head coaching wins for Malone's Interim Head Coach Rafael Gonzalez. 

What's Next?
The tournament concludes tomorrow. The Pioneers will play Notre Dame College at 11:00 a.m., and close out the opening weekend of the season with a 5:00 p.m. match against Roberts Wesleyan College.