Bradford, Pa. -- The University of Pittsburgh at Bradford women's volleyball team got back in the win column on Tuesday night, defeating the Houghton Highlanders in straight sets.
The Panthers easily won each set, keeping Houghton under 20 for the whole match. They took the opener 25-18, the 2nd 25-19, and breezed to a 25-15 win in set three to complete the sweep. The Panthers hit .240 as a team, and also tallied 8 aces.
The opening set saw the Panthers struggle to find their rhythm early as Houghton was able to build a 4-6 lead, but the Panthers were able to take the lead for good with a 3-point service run from Eve Brink. The Panthers slowly pushed their lead to 4, but after a Kaitlyn Sexton kill got the Panthers the serve at 15-11, Pitt-Bradford was able to stretch their lead to 8 with Darby Deniston at the service line. Following a set error on the Highlanders, Deniston forced Houghton into a time-out with a service ace. After the break, Taylor King and Olivia Reese put down back-to-back kills to put the Panthers up 19-11. Houghton battled back to cut the lead to 3 points, but the Panthers saw out the set with a hitting error, King kill, and a Stephanie Carson ace.
Pitt-Bradford started off slowly in set two, as Houghton quickly took a 3-0 lead, but the Panthers chipped away until a Kayla Maslowski ace tied the set at 8 points each. Kaitlyn Sexton tallied back-to-back kills to force a timeout, and Maslowski added two more aces after the break to push the lead to 4. Pitt-Bradford methodically maintained the lead, as Deniston recorded three late kills to put the Panthers on set point. After a service error for the Panthers, Sexton and Reese recorded a double block to end the set and give the Panthers a 2-0 lead.
The Panthers got off to a better start in the final set of the match. They picked up the opening point on an attack error, and never looked back as they led for the entire set. Leading 4-3, Sexton picked up a side out with a kill which led to a 14-6 run that gave Pitt-Bradford a commanding lead. The run included a 5-point service rally from Kayla Maslowski. Houghton was able to battle back late, cutting the lead to single digits. The Panthers were able to see out the match, using two straight side outs on a Reese kill and a Houghton service error before Ryley Pago ended the match with a kill from the middle hitter position.
Kaitlyn Sexton led the Panther attack as she recorded 11 kills on 23 swings, giving her a .348 hitting percentage for the match. She also had 5 digs and 2 half blocks. Darby Deniston also finished in double digits with 10 kills. Tabitha Walker dished out 33 assists in the match. She also had 3 kills and 4 digs. Stephanie Carson led the Panthers with 13 digs, while Kayla Maslowski had 9 with 4 service aces.
The Panthers move to 27 on the season with the win. They will be back in action over the weekend as they travel to Ohio to play in the Ginny Hunt Kilt Classic, hosted by Wooster. They will take on Chatham and Wooster on day 1, and follow that up with Westminster and Capital on Saturday. The first match is set for 4:30 p.m. on Friday.
