CANTON, Ohio – The Malone University volleyball team picked up their first Great Midwest Athletic Conference (G-MAC) win of the season on Saturday morning with a 3-1 triumph over Ursuline College. The Pioneers are now 2-7 overall and start league play at 1-0. The Arrows have dropped seven in a row to begin 2025 and the first two inside the G-MAC.
 
15 attack errors in set one put Malone behind 1-0 after a 25-15 loss. Ursuline had ten kills to one error in the set and hit a match-high percentage of .265.
 
The Pioneers put things together in set two and evened the match with a 25-17 victory. The team had five straight kills, two apiece by freshmen Hailey Conrad and Tori Dawson, to take an 8-4 advantage and did not trail for the remainder of the set. Several digs by sophomore Emma Weirich helped give Malone extra opportunities to score and the Pioneers put the set to rest with seven of the final eight points.
 
Malone carried that momentum into the third set as well and came away with a commanding 25-13 win. The offense was clicking with 18 kills from the Pioneers, led by junior Brianne Salinas with five. Dawson was just behind with four third set kills and junior Jaymes Gilbert added three. The Malone defense added four blocks after not having any in the first two sets, three of which came from Salinas and Gilbert as a duo.
 
In the fourth set, the Pioneers jumped out to a 7-1 lead and thought they had the contest in hand, but Ursuline battled back and made things interesting. The lead continued to 13-4 when Dawson and sophomore Marissa Smith combined for a block, but from there the Arrows took over. Back-to-back blocks forced a timeout by Head Coach Rafael Gonzalez down 23-21. The break was effective with five of the final six points going Malone's way. Dawson had two kills and an ace in the waning moments of the match for the 26-24 set four victory.
 
The Pioneers held a 57-36 advantage on kills, 50-32 edge on assists and 73-61 difference in digs. Ursuline did have 13 total blocks compared to Malone's six in the match.
 
Dawson's team-high 16 kills are also a career-high for the first-year student-athlete. Conrad (12) and Gilbert (10) joined her in double figures. Freshman Mikayla Yockey and sophomore Helaina Edgar split duties fairly evenly on assists with 24 and 22, respectively. Freshman libero Madalyn Coblentz recorded a career-high 17 digs. Weirich and sophomore Annabelle Kegley recorded 11 digs apiece.
 
The Pioneers are now full swing into conference play with their next match coming on the road at Ashland University on Tuesday, September 23. That match begins at 6:00 P.M.