ERIE, Pa. - The Malone University volleyball team dropped both of its matches on day one of the Gannon Invitational. Malone fell to Gannon University in three sets and Clarion University in three sets. The Pioneers fall to a 2-3 record overall on the season.
MALONE vs GANNON RECAP:
The Pioneers fell behind in the first set with a 9-1 scoring run by the Golden Knights. Malone responded with three consecutive points led by Marissa Smith and Kassidy Gorsuch, who each had a kill. However, Gannon would score the final six points, to take a 1-0 lead.
A back-and-fourth battle in set two saw both teams trade points early but the Golden Knights pulled in front with a 6-0 run that made it 12-5. The Pioneers fought to take four of the next six points, with a kill by Jaymes Gilbert and an ace by Helaina Edgar. After more action from both sides, Malone added a 3-0 scoring run with kills from Brianne Salinas and Arianna Buckley. Gannon came out on top of set two and took three of the last four points.
The Golden Knights took the early advantage in set three with a 5-0 run that made it 6-2 in Gannon's favor. Back-to-back points for Malone led by a kill by Kelsey Williams and made 6-4. The Golden Knights took a 15-5 lead after a 7-0 scoring run in the middle of the set. Malone had kills from Buckley, Gilbert, and Smith to try to rally late in the set and made it 19-11 still in Gannon's favor. Gannon scored the final six points of the set and took the final set of the match.
Gilbert had a team-high six kills with zero attack errors to lead Malone. Smith finished second on the team with five kills of her own.The Golden Eagles held the kill advantage 48-20 and the total hitting percentage advantage, .324 to .095. Emma Weirich and Madalyn Coblentz had team-high eight digs each for the Pioneers.
MALONE vs CLARION RECAP:
Malone opened an early lead on Clarion and took four of the first six points of set one, with kills from Gilbert and Gorsuch. The Pioneers added four consecutive points to take a 8-3 lead and were led by block assists from Gilbert and Smith. Malone then added back-to-back kills from Meryn Stacy and Hailey Conrad later in set to extend the lead to 11-5. A kill from Gorsuch made the Pioneer lead grow to 16-9. The Golden Eagles responded with a 6-0 scoring run to cut into the lead and made it 16-13. Clarion then tied it 18-18 with a kill later in the set. After a Clarion kill, Stacy added a kill from Williams and tied 20-20. However, the Golden Eagles would add three consecutive points late and never looked back to take set one by a score of 25-23.
The Pioneers began the second set down 0-2 until three straight points, led by kills from Gilbert and Gorsuch took the lead 3-2 in Malone's favor. Clarion took a 5-4 lead before the Pioneers went on a 5-0 run led by kills from Gorsuch and Smith. The Golden Eagles answered by scoring the nine of the next ten points and took a 14-10 lead. Clarion would add again with five points over the next seven attempts to extend the lead to 19-12. The Golden Eagles would clinch the win in set two 25-15.
Set three saw Clarion take an early 4-1 lead with Gilbert adding the lone kill for Malone. Later in the set the Golden Eagles took a 10-5 lead over the Pioneers. A three-point scoring run from Malone cut the lead to three and made it 11-8. Clarion would add seven of the next eight points and extend the lead to 18-9. The Golden Eagles would win the third set by a score of 25-12.
Gilbert led the team in kills with six and one attack error in the contest. She also added four block assists and a total of 10 points for Malone. Gorsuch was second in kills with five and three block assists. Five different Pioneers added at least one kill in the contest.
UP NEXT:
Malone will match up against Eckerd College at 10:00 A.M. and Wayne State University at 4:45 P.M. for Day two of the Gannon Invitational in Erie, Pennsylvania on Saturday, September 5.
