Bradford, Pa. -- The University of Pittsburgh at Bradford women's volleyball team brought their home slate to a close on Thursday evening, as they hosted Wells for a crucial AMCC matchup. The Panthers went up 2 sets to 1, but could not close the match as they fell to the Express in five sets.
The Panthers took set one as they committed only two hitting errors to post a .375 hitting percentage to win 25-20. Pitt-Bradford fell behind early in the second set, as they trailed by 8. They battled back but fell short and lost the second 23-25. The Panthers responded and breezed to a 25-17 win in the third. They went ahead 5-0 early in set three but were outscored 25-9 for the remainder of the set as the match went into the 5th. In the final set, the Panthers erased an early deficit, but could not hang on, ultimately losing 14-16.
Pitt-Bradford came out of the gates strong, scoring the first four points of the match on two Marissa Bowman kills, a Wells error, and an ace from Baylee Fitzsimmons. That lead would be enough for the Panthers for the remainder of the set, as neither team was able to string more than two consecutive points together. Ruby Smith had two late kills to put the set away.
Despite scoring first in the second set, the Panthers quickly fell behind the Express, as Wells scored 13 of the first 17 points to go ahead by 9 points. After Smith forced a side-out with a kill, Fitzsimmons served the Panthers to 5 straight points, allowing Pitt-Bradford to trim the lead down to two points. The teams traded side-outs for the remainder of the set. The Panthers did cut the lead to one at 23-22 after a solo block from Summer Anderson, but Wells was able to end the set shortly after with a pair of kills.
Set three saw the teams exchange short rallies early on, but the Panthers took control after a timeout, as they scored 6 straight points with Kayla Maslowski at the service line. Smith and Anderson had two kills each in the rally while Louser added another and Maslowski had an ace. The Express stayed within three points until Pitt-Bradford scored 5 straight to win the set.
The Panthers used the momentum from a strong finish in set three to win the first 5 points of the fourth. After the rally ended due to a service error, the visitors took over, quickly erasing the lead and then scoring 6 in a row to go ahead 13-8. The Panthers were only able to score 6 more points for the remainder of the set, while Wells closed the set with 4 straight to force a deciding 5th set.
In the 5th, the Panthers fell behind early, as Wells outscored them 8-3 before the teams switched sides. Pitt-Bradford was able to rally, as Dylan Amic had a pair of aces after an error to cut the lead to two. Following two in a row from Wells, Jenna Louser had a solo block that led to 4 more in a row, allowing the Panthers to take the lead at 11-10. MAslowski had two straight clutch aces to tie the game at 10 and give the Panthers their first lead of the set. The teams exchanged side-outs before the express moved to match point with three in a row. Pitt-Bradford tied the set at 14 with a kill by Anderson and a WElls attack error, but could not come up with the final kills as the visitors scored two straight to end the match.
Marissa Bowman set a new career high with 18 kills in the match. She finished with a .268 hitting percentage and added 11 digs. Senior middle hitter Summer Anderson also set a career-high as she put down 14 kills. She hit .433 in the match and also tallied 6 total blocks. Ruby Smith was the third Panther to reach double figures in kills, as she had 14 in the match. Freshman setter Alyssa Radtke accumulated 44 assists in the match while also collecting 9 digs. Three Panthers had double-digit digs in the match, led by libero Kayla Maslowski who had 28. Dylan Amic finished with 16 and Bowman collected 11. Maslowski also had 4 aces in the match, while Baylee Fitzsimmons had 3.
The loss drops the Panthers to 4-18 this season, with a 1-5 record in AMCC play. The loss also knocks the Panthers out of playoff contention. They will be back in action on Saturday, as they travel to Pittsburgh for a matchup with Carlow at 3:00 p.m
