Cresson, Pa. -- The University of Pittsburgh at Bradford volleyball team opened its AMCC schedule on the road Saturday, falling 3-2 at Mount Aloysius.
The Panthers jumped ahead with a 25-22 win in set one, but saw their hosts even the match in set 2, falling 25-23. They dominated the third set 25-13 to retake the lead before the Mounties won the 4th 25-22 to force a deciding set. The final set was back and forth throughout, with the Mounties scoring two in a row to end the match with a 5th set score of 15-12.
Pitt-Bradford fell behind in set one, as an opening point was answered by 5 straight from the hosts. The Panthers slowly whittled away the lead before moving ahead of the Mounties with 5 straight. Olivia Reese started the rally and followed it with a service ace. A DArby Deniston Kill put Pitt-Bradford ahead and two straight Mount Aloysius errors put the Panthers up 11-8. After the Mounties retook the lead at 12-13, the Panthers rolled off 6 straight and 8 of 9 to open up a 6-point edge. Jenna Louser was in on 3 blocks in the rally while Talyor King and Deniston added kills. The hosts battled back getting to within 2 points of the Panthers before an attack error ended the set.
The Panthers fell behind the hosts once again in set two but were able to battle back later in the set, tying things up at 11. They were able to take a lead with four straight kills but saw their rally answered by the Mounties, who scored 5 in a row to retake the advantage. The Panthers regained the lead with 4 straight with Tabitha Walker on the service line, and after the Mounties tied things at 10, used 7 straight side outs to remain ahead. Unfortunately, the Panthers were unable to finish Mount Aloysius off, as they allowed the hosts to score three straight to even the match at one set each.
Pitt-Bradford came out firing in the 3rd, quickly taking an 11-2 lead. King and Louser had a pair of early blocks, while Kayla Maslowski had two aces in the run. They pushed their advantage to 18-5 on another kill by Reese, before Mount Aloysius cut into the lead by scoring 8 of 10 points. Up 20-13, the Panthers were able to close the set with 5 in a row of their own. A Louser kill got the serve back to the Panthers before Olivia Reese put down 3 of 4 to finish off the set and put the Panthers up 2-1.
Despite a strong set 3, the Panthers were unable to maintain the momentum in the 4th, as a rally in the middle of the set saw the Mounties build an 8-15 lead. From that point, the Panthers made a push to end the match, as they battled back, outscoring the Mounties 14-6 to take a late 22-21 lead. Reese had 5 kills in the rally, including the final point of the run. From there, the Panthers were unable to close out the set as the Mounties rolled off four straight points to win the set 22-25 and force a match-deciding 5th set.
In the final set, the teams traded short rallies, as the lead changed 5 times. With the match tied for the 11th time at 12-12, the Mounties were able to score three straight to win the set and the match.
Olivia Reese paced the Panthers, tying her season and career high with 23 kills. She had a .333 hitting percentage and added 3 aces, 16 digs, and 2 blocks. Freshmen Darby Deniston and Jenna Louser added 7 kills each, while Louser totaled 5 blocks in the match. Tabitha Walker finished the match with 45 assists, 19 digs, 2 service aces, and a block. Kayla Maslowski led the defensive effort with 33 digs. Stephanie Carson added 13.
The Panthers fall to 6-12 on the season with an 0-1 record in AMCC play. They will return to KOA Arena for their next AMCC match, as they host Hilbert on Wednesday, October 12th at 7:00 p.m.
