CANTON, Ohio - The Malone University volleyball team dropped their opening match in Great Midwest Athletic Conference (G-MAC) play in straight sets to Lake Erie College.
Â
The Pioneers (2-6, 0-1 G-MAC) fell behind in set one despite 18 kills in the period. Five of the eight attack errors in the first came off of blocks by the Storm (3-4, 1-0 G-MAC).
Marissa Smith recorded a team-high six kills in the set and the team hit .238, but Lake Erie was at .306 in a 25-21 set one win.
Â
Set two was not efficient for the Malone offense with ten kills and ten attack errors.
Jaymes Gilbert was a catalyst with five kills in the period, but a 13-for-18 (72%) effort on sideouts for Lake Erie propelled the opponents to a 25-17 victory.
Â
The Storm continued the onslaught in the third set to complete the sweep at 25-16. Lake Erie led wire-to-wire in the set and had six aces to secure the win. In total, it was a 100-point difference in serve percentage at .973 compared to .873 for Malone.
Â
The Pioneers had a slight edge in kills (37-31), but the Storm had a 9-2 advantage in aces, 11-2 in blocks and .176 compared to .066 in hitting percentage. Gilbert was the lone Malone student-athlete with double figure kills with 11.
Helaina Edgar and
Kelsey Williams had 16 assists each, eight of which came from Williams in the third set alone.
Arianna Buckley made her first career start and tied with
Ella Kresak with 16 digs to pace the squad.
Â
It is a quick turnaround for the Pioneers are they venture north to Ursuline College on Saturday, September 12 at 2:00 P.M.
Â
