MEADVILLE, Pa. -- The University of Pittsburgh at Bradford women's volleyball team fell in straight sets at Allegheny Wednesday night.

"We had to play at the top of our game to beat this experienced team, and we did not do that tonight," Head Coach Tom Roof said. "We need to play better defense in order to generate offense, and we just could not get into any offensive rhythm tonight."

Down two sets, the Panthers gave the Gators a competitive third set. 

Behind 22-14, Pitt-Bradford scored four straight points to bring the score to 22-18.

The two teams went on to trade points, though, and the Gators held on, 25-20.

Emily Cleveland led the way with eight kills.

Payton Orzech had nine assists and Caitlyn Schnell had six.  

Alayna Seggi had 17 digs while Laura Hildebrand had 10. 

The Panthers will participate in the Allegheny Mountain Collegiate Conference Quad on Saturday at D'Youville, taking on Penn State-Altoona and Mount Aloysius for the first conference matches of the season. 

"These games we've been playing are important, but our real season begins on Saturday," Roof concluded.