CANTON, Ohio - The Malone University volleyball team won their first match of the year on Saturday with a 3-1 victory over Bluefield State University (1-7) at the Hall of Fame City Challenge. The Pioneers (1-7) were also knocked off by Bloomsburg University (4-3) in four sets.
 
MALONE vs BLUEFIELD STATE RECAP:
The morning started poorly for Malone after a 25-19 win by Bluefield State in the first set. 13 errors for the Pioneers allowed the opponents to nab a win, but the next three sets belonged to the home squad.
 
Malone pulled away from the Big Blue for a 25-14 set two win. Hailey Conrad was involved in three straight Pioneer points to claim a 10-6 lead. Seven of the final nine points in the period went to Malone, capped off by an ace from Madalyn Coblentz.
 
Sets three and four featured 18 and 19 kills for the Pioneers, respectively en route to the victory. 61 kills and 55 assists are the most in a single match in 2025. In the third, the set was tied at 8-8 before Malone went on a massive 12-0 run with three kills each from Emma Weirich and Jaymes Gilbert. The Pioneers took the lead with a 25-17 win in the third and took the fourth set 26-24. Conrad had five kills in the period.
 
Gilbert (13), Conrad (12) and Brianne Salinas (11) were all in double figures in kills. Helaina Edgar recorded 29 assists. Four different student-athletes had double-digit digs in Coblentz (14), Mikayla Yockey (13), Weirich (11) and Jaclyn Jundzilo (11).
 
MALONE vs BLOOMSBURG RECAP:
A 15-2 difference in aces was key to Bloomsburg securing the victory against Malone. The Huskies were not prepared for action early in their first match of the day and the Pioneers had 15 kills to clinch a 25-17 set win. Three kills by Tori Dawson put Malone in front 14-6 and they were able to hang on from there to take the 1-0 advantage.
 
Set two went to Bloomsburg by a score of 25-13. The Huskies recorded a match-high 15 kills in the set to draw even. The third and fourth sets were fairly similar with scores of 25-18 and 25-16. Malone was unable to keep the pace they put together in set one for the duration of the match.
 
The freshman Conrad led the team with nine kills and chipped in on five blocks (one solo). Jundzilo had nearly twice as many digs as the next best for the Pioneers with 15.
 
UP NEXT:
Great Midwest Athletic Conference (G-MAC) play begins on Saturday, September 20 with a match at home versus Ursuline College. First serve is set for 11:00 A.M. on a tripleheader weekend of Malone sporting events at home.