ERIE, Pa. -- The Malone University volleyball team closed out the Gannon-Mercyhurst Invitational on Saturday.

The Pioneers dropped a hard-fought five-set match to Mercyhurst in the morning, and then Grand Valley State topped MU in four sets later on in the afternoon.

THE ESSENTIALS

• Final Score: Mercyhurst Lakers 3 - Malone University Pioneers 2
• Final Score: Grand Valley State University Lakers 3 - Malone University Pioneers 1
• Records: Mercyhurst (1-2) | Grand Valley State (3-1) | Malone (1-3)
• Location: Erie, Pennsylvania | Mercyhurst Athletic Center & Highmark Events Center

THE MATCH | Mercyhurst 3 - Malone 2
The Pioneers jumped out to an early lead with a 25-17 win in the opening set. Malone broke a 4-4 tie with a kill from CC Gurney, and never trailed the rest of the set. 

Mercyhurst responded with twelve kills and just three errors in the second set to pick up the 25-13 win. 

Set three was back-and-forth the entire way, but in the end, with the match tied at 24, the Pioneers forced the Lakers into consecutive attack errors to score the 26-24 victory. 

Unfortunately Mercyhurst tied the match at two with a 25-21 set four win, and then closed out the match with a 15-13 victory in the decisive fifth set. 

THE MATCH | Grand Valley State 3 - Malone 1
GVSU opened up with a 25-17 win in the first set. However, defensive adjustments by the Pioneers helped to limit Grand Valley to just a .160 hitting percentage in the second set. On the other hand Malone put down 15 total kills to even up the match at 1-1. 

The Lakers answered with a 25-13 win in the third set, and then cruised to a 25-7 victory in set four to take the match by a final score of 3-1.

DETAILS
CC Gurney and Ri'Gyn Humes each had 16 kills on the afternoon for Malone's offense.

Once again it was Molly Bullion leading the way in the assist department with 26 against Mercyhurst and 11 against GVSU. Gabby Pelfrey added a total of 26 assists on the day.

WHAT'S NEXT
Malone opens up the home portion of the 2022 slate next weekend with the annual Hall of Fame City Challenge. 

The Pioneers along with: Notre Dame College, Edinboro University, Davenport University, and Bloomsburg University will all participate in the ten-match tournament over the course of Friday and Saturday.

FOLLOW THE PIONEERS
To keep up to date with everything surrounding the Malone University athletic programs this year follow the Pioneers on Twitter and Instagram, like Malone University Athletics on Facebook or visit www.malonepioneers.com.