The Ursuline College volleyball team opened up the Wayne State Invitational with a tough five-set loss to fellow Great Midwest school Malone on Friday afternoon.
 
The Pioneers jumped out quickly in each of the first two sets and won 25-16 and 25-15 to take a 2-0 lead in the match.
 
Ursuline trailed 11-5 in the third set but were able to come back and pull within a point at 16-15 before eventually tying the game up at 18-18 after a kill by junior Hannah Hottinger. The Arrows took the lead for the first time at 19-18.
 
The Arrows went onto win the third set 28-26 and forced a fifth and deciding set by winning the fourth set 26-24.
 
Malone won a back-and-forth fifth set 15-10 to take the match in five.
 
The Arrows were paced by senior Vikki Henderson who finished with 14 kills and freshman Devin Gerth who had 10. Senior Jill Morrow added eight kills. Sophomore Regan Nickol notched 40 assists while junior Zoe Skinner had a match-high 22 digs.
 
Ursuline will take on host Wayne State at 2:30 PM in their second and final match of the day before playing two matches on Saturday.