BUFFALO, N.Y. -- The University of Pittsburgh at Bradford women's volleyball team moved to a double-digit win total on the season with a straight-set win at Buffalo State Wednesday.
"This was a really nice win against a team that plays really well and is much better than its record shows," Head Coach Tom Roof said. "We started out with a rough first set hitting, but really cut down on our hitting errors in the last two sets. It was nice to clean that up. We got really good production from our outside hitters, and Payton did a really nice job of getting them the ball and keeping Buffalo State from blocking. Meagan Welsh also came in and played in each set and did a really nice job. We're playing like the experienced team we are, and it's nice to get that 10th win."
Pitt-Bradford (10-8) reaches the 10-win plateau before the start of October for the second time in three years, the last time coming from the 2016 AMCC champion squad.
Despite nine hitting errors, the Panthers battled through their weakest hitting set of the non-conference contest to earn a 25-19 win in the first set.
After starting the match 5-0, Buffalo State (3-14) went on a run of its own and eventually tied the score at 8-8.
But the Panthers regained the lead and took six of the last eight points to win the first set.
The second set began much like the first with an early Panthers lead that was erased by a Bengals' run.
The two teams traded the lead and later brought the score to a 20-20 deadlock.
But the Panthers tightened up and scored five-straight points on a pair of kills from Riley Anderson, a kill from Alexandra Segura, a service ace from Payton Orzech and a Bengals' hitting error.
After surrendering an early lead in the third set, the Panthers bounced back, eventually jumping out to an 18-10 advantage.
Buffalo State battled back some, but Pitt-Bradford eventually captured the 25-18 set win to complete the victory in straight sets.
Anderson knocked a game-high 18 kills while Emily Cleveland hammered home 16 kills.
Orzech had 38 assists and also led the team with 13 digs for a double-double.
Laura Hildebrand contributed 10 digs for the Panthers.
At the net, Elizabeth Johnson let the team with three blocks assisted while Katie Treat and Anderson assisted a pair each.
Up next, the Panthers will resume AMCC action as Franciscan comes to the KOA Arena Saturday for a 1 p.m. start.