Volleyball Drops 3-2 Match To Malone

MIDLAND, MICH. – The Northwood University volleyball dropped a tough 3-2 match to Malone Friday night (October 10). Set scores were 26-24, 22-25, 29-31, 25-23, 15-11.

Malone improves to 7-10 overall, 5-5 in the GLIAC. Northwood falls to 5-9 overall, 2-8 in the GLIAC.

The match was a battle from the start. The first set featured 12 ties and four lead changes. Northwood had a set point at 24-23, but Malone responded by earning the final three points to win 26-24. The Timberwolves finished with a 17-12 edge in kills and hit .286 to .175 for Malone, but serving proved to be the difference in the set. The Pioneers had two aces and one error while Northwood had one ace and six errors.

Northwood's offense was played clean second set, hitting .300 overall while committing just one error (16-1-50). The key part of the set came with Malone leading 12-9 – the Timberwolves rattled off nine of the next 11 points to go up 18-14 and leading to Northwood leveling the match at 1-1.

Malone opened up a 13-5 lead in the third set, but the Timberwolves fought back. Northwood scored nine of the next 12 points to cut the lead to 18-16. Down the stretch, both teams had chances to put the set away. The Pioneers had four set points, while Northwood cashed in on their fourth attempt to win the set 31-29 and go up 2-1.  The marathon set had a big number of attempts for both teams – Northwood hit .183 on 60 attempts (19-8-60) while Malone finished at .096 (13-8-52).

The Timberwolves were close to earning the win in the fourth set, going up 21-16 late in the frame. But Malone scored six of the next seven points to tie the score at 22-22. The Pioneers then scored the final three points to take the set 25-23 and level the match. Malone hit .258 (11-3-31) in the set while Northwood finished at .163 (16-8-49).

Malone's fast start in the final set proved to be the difference, as the Pioneers scored six of the first seven points to take a lead they would not give up. Northwood fought back to get within one at 12-11, but Malone responded by scoring the final three points to take the match. MU saved their best offensive set for the fifth, as the Pioneers hit .333 (7-1-18). The Timberwolves finished the fifth at .032 (6-5-31).

Northwood finished the match with significant edges in most categories, including kills (74-57), attack percentage (.203-.175), blocks (9.0-6.0) and points (91.0-71.0). Serving proved to be a big part of the match, as Malone finished with eight aces and eight errors while Northwood had eight aces and 19 errors. NU had season-highs in kills, digs (96) and total attempts (232)

Four Timberwolves finished with 10 or more kills, led by junior Meghan Cleary (Howell, Mich./Farmington Hills Mercy). She had a career-high 18 kills while adding nine digs and four blocks. Allison Getty (Wayland, Mich.) had 15 kills and 20 digs, while Chelsea Watson (Bowling Green, Ohio/Niagara U.) had 13 kills. Cassandra Marsh (Maumee, Ohio) finished with 11 kills and a .385 attack percentage. Marissa Pomaville (Livonia, Mich./Churchill) ended up with 10 kills and five blocks.

Northwood will host Walsh tomorrow afternoon (October 11). First serve is set for 5 p.m.