Bradford, Pa. -- The University of Pittsburgh at Bradford volleyball team hit the road on Wednesday, falling to Penn State-Behrend 3 sets to 1. Early in the match, Tabitha Walker picked up her second assist of the day, reaching the 2000 assist milestone for her career.
The Panthers fell behind in the match, losing the first two sets 25-19 and 25-22. They battled back to win set three 22-35, but could not maintain momentum as they lost set four 25-7 to close the match.
The Panthers started strong as a Jenna Louser kill and 4 Penn State-Behrend errors put them ahead 5-2. A Chloe Bellis service ace kept the Panthers ahead by two at 7-5, but the hosts scored 8 of the next 9 points to take a 6-point advantage. The Panthers cut the lead back to two on a pair of Emma King kills and two Lion errors, but Penn State-Behrend quickly pushed back the lead with four straight. Pitt-Bradford countered as four straight errors put them down 17-19, but the Lions finished the set on the front foot, outscoring the Panthers 6-2 down the stretch to win the set 25-19.
Set two began in a close fashion as the teams stayed within two through 10 points. The hosts were the first to break through, however, as they were able to slowly build an 11-6 lead. The Panthers cut the lead to two 5 times before the Lions scored four straight to jump ahead 22-16. Pitt-Bradford battled back as they were able to score 6 of 7 points to whittle the lead to one point. Louser and Olivia Reese each had a pair of kills in the rally, while Taylor King added another and a Stephanie Carson service ace. They were unable to complete the comeback, however, as the Lions finished the set with a kill and a block.
Pitt-Bradford got off to a slow start in set three as the Lions scored the first five points of the set. The Panthers slowly whittled away the lead until a double block from Ruby Smith and Kaitlyn Sexton tied the set at 11. Following four straight sideouts, the Panthers took their first lead at 14-13 on a kill by Smith. They pushed the lead out to three points before the hosts battled back. With the Panthers up 19-16, the Lions scored 5 straight to regain the lead at 19-21. The Panthers were able to respond immediately with 5 in a row of their own. Reese put down three kills, while Sexton added another and Chloe Bellis tallied a service ace. Penn State-Behrend was able to get a side out to end the run, but a final kill from Reese ended the set with the Panthers ahead 25-22.
The Panthers got off to another slow start in the fourth set but were never able to regain their footing. After falling behind 6-1, the Panthers were unable to get the deficit back to 6 points. The Lions outscored the panthers 13-1 to close the game.
Olivia Reese led the Panthers with 15 kills. she also collected 14 digs. Ruby Smith also reached double digits with 10 kills. Tabitha Walker dished out 34 assists in the loss. Kayla Maslowski led the defensive effort with 20 kills. Chloe Bellis and Stephanie Carson both reached double figures with 13 and 12 kills. Bellis also had 3 aces, while Carson added 2.
The Panthers fall to 9-15 on the season and 3-3 in AMCC play. They will bring their regular season to a close with a tri-match on Saturday, October 29th. They will start the event with a crucial AMCC finale against LA Roche at 12:00 p.m. They follow that with a final regular season match against Keuka, scheduled to begin at 4:00 p.m.
