The Pitt-Bradford volleyball team is set to host the 2016 AMCC Championships this weekend at the KOA Arena where the top-seeded Panthers will meet fifth-seeded D'Youville in the semifinals at 2 p.m. Saturday.
Pitt-Bradford looks to cap a magical season that has far exceeded expectations with an AMCC championship.
In the other semifinal, Penn State Altoona and La Roche meet, and the winners will square off for the title at 1 p.m. Sunday.
The Panthers are hosting the conference championships for just the second time; the last time was in 2010. Pitt-Bradford beat Penn State Altoona in the finals that year to capture the program's first conference title.
The Panthers were predicted to finish seventh in the league's preseason poll yet ran the table against AMCC opponents, going 9-0.
"We worked hard to get to this point," head coach Tom Roof said. "From not making the tournament last year to being predicted to finish seventh in the preseason poll, it's something we talked about early on in the season, and the girls felt they had a lot to prove."
Led by the duo of senior Christina Rauh and sophomore Kirsten Platz, the Panthers were dominant in league play, dropping just six sets. Rauh leads the AMCC in several categories, including assists and service aces per set, and Platz ranks among the best hitters in NCAA Division III.
While Rauh and Platz have garnered many of the regular season accolades, it's the Panthers' depth that has fueled a record-setting season. The team's 23 wins are the most ever by a Pitt-Bradford squad during the regular season, and a win over D'Youville Saturday will match the program record for most wins in a season.
Senior Mandy Finch, junior Erin Fagan and sophomore Alexis Dhayer make Pitt-Bradford a tough matchup on the outside. Finch and Dhayer are statistically two of the more balanced players in the conference, and Fagan has double-digit kills in three of the last five matches.
Senior Rose Thacker, who backs up Platz, is one of the league's more efficient attackers and ranks second only to her teammate among all AMCC players with a .321 hitting percentage.
Defensively, the Panthers have relied on a rotation of sophomore Brianna Majot and junior Emily Reitz to anchor the back line.
Pitt-Bradford is the league's top hitting and serving unit and ranks third in blocking behind Franciscan and La Roche.
D'Youville advanced to Saturday's match by rallying to defeat two-time defending champion Franciscan 3-2 in the first round Wednesday night.
The Spartans are led by junior outside hitters Megan Schneider and Kendyll Smith. Both average two or more kills per set. As a team, the Spartans are the league's third-best hitting team but rank in the middle of the pack in other key statistical categories.
Pitt-Bradford won the regular season meeting 3-1 in Buffalo, N.Y., behind double-digits kills from Platz and Thacker. Rauh finished with a double-double of 42 assists and 10 digs, and she added six aces.
The Panthers limited D'Youville to a .123 hitting clip and forced the Spartans into 21 attack errors. Pitt-Bradford totaled 11 aces, and seven different Panthers registered a kill.
"We can't take D'Youville for granted even though we beat them up there," Roof said. "They're coming off a nice win at Franciscan, a team they lost to at the end of the season and came back to beat days later.
They're scrappy, and they don't quit. We have to play the same way if we want to be successful."
It will be the first-ever meeting in the AMCC postseason for D'Youville and Pitt-Bradford. The Panthers are 5-8 all-time in the semifinal round, but three of those four wins have come in the last five tournament appearances.
Admission for the AMCC Championships is free, and the Pitt-Bradford athletic department will also be collecting gloves, hats and socks for local Bradford children as part of its first annual Hot Paws winter campaign.
For those unable to attend, you will be able to watch online via the Pitt-Bradford athletics website.
