BRADFORD, Pa. -- The University of Pittsburgh at Bradford women's volleyball team picked up its second consecutive victory Saturday in an Allegheny Mountain Collegiate Conference matchup with Franciscan at the KOA Arena.
"I thought we played really well against a team that's always tough and brings their best," Head Coach Tom Roof said. "We were really solid defensively today. We just didn't let anything hit the floor, and we got good passes to Payton, who got it to our hitters really well. Emily and Riley carried us.
"We talked about wanting to make an impact against a good conference team, and we did that today. We're playing really well together right now, which is what we want to see with so many more tough conference games ahead of us," Roof continued.
With the victory, Pitt-Bradford improves to 11-8 overall and 2-1 in AMCC action, while Franciscan moves to 2-17, 1-3 AMCC.
The Panthers' outside hitters were nearly unstoppable, as Emily Cleveland hammered home kills on each of her first eight swings and totaled 16. She finished the day with an outstanding .750 hitting percentage.
Riley Anderson led the game with 20 kills, 11 of which coming in the third set. On the day, she hit a .326 percentage.
Payton Orzech assisted 42 of the team's 49 kills.
Laura Hildebrand recorded a game-best 20 digs.
Orzech and Anderson were each credited with 10 digs for double-doubles.
As a team, the Panthers took care of business in straight sets, picking up the win in set one, 25-16.
Anderson and Cleveland knocked six and five kills respectively.
In set two, the Panthers tightened up and held off Franciscan, 25-11.
Cleveland led the way with nine kills on 11 swings in the set, while Hildebrand had six digs to anchor the Panther defense.
But Franciscan wouldn't go down easily.
The Barons controlled much of the third set early on, but a 10-0 Pitt-Bradford run highlighted a 25-13 win to complete the victory.
Up next, Pitt-Bradford will continue AMCC action and travel to D'Youville Tuesday for its first AMCC road match.
