Virginia Beach, Va. -- The University of Pittsburgh at Bradford finished its season-opening trip to Virginia Beach on Saturday as they fell to Greensboro 3-1.
After falling behind early in set 1, the Panthers were able to battle back to eventually win the set. Trailing 4-10 Pitt Bradford outscored Greensboro 10-2 to turn their deficit into a 2-point lead. Darby Deniston had 3 kills during the Panther Rally. They pushed their lead to 5 when Olivia Reese put down a kill to make the score 22-17. Greensboro battled back, eventually tying the game at 24, but after a pair of side-outs, the Panthers put the set away with two straight points to take a 1-0 lead.
Neither team was able to get an early foothold in set two as the teams exchanged the lead multiple times, never going up by more than two points. Later in the set, it was the Panthers who flinched first, as Greensboro went on a 9-3 run to take a commanding lead that the Panthers were unable to cut into.
The final set remained close early yet again, but another Greensboro rally saw them turn a 6-6 tie into a 7-12 lead. The Panthers were never able to get back within five points, as the Pride slowly pushed their lead to as many as 9, before closing the match with three straight points.
Freshman Darby Deniston had her finest performance of the weekend as she led the way with 12 kills. She also had 9 digs. Olivia Reese added 8 kills and 6 digs while Ruby Smith finished with 7 kills and a .250 hitting percentage. Tabitha Walker had her highest output match of the trip, finishing with 34 assists, while also adding 9 digs. Kayla Maslowski led the defense with 19 digs.
The Panthers move to 0-4 on the season after a tough weekend against strong competition. They will look to right the ship and get into the win column on Wednesday, September 3rd, as they will open their home schedule with a match against Elmira. The match will begin at 7:00 p.m.