Greensburg, PA. -- The University of Pittsburgh at Bradford women's volleyball team brought their 2023 campaign to an end on Saturday, as they fell to Pitt-Greensburg 3-1.
After dropping the opening set 17-25, the Panthers evened the match with a 25-23 win in the second. They could not maintain the momentum, however, as the hosts were able to win two close sets in the 3rd and 4th 22-25 and 23-25 to end the match.
The Panthers were able to score the first point of the match through a Marissa Bowman kill, but then struggled to find their rhythm as the Bobcats were able to quickly build an 8-point lead at 4-12. The Panthers rallied to score 4 of 5 points and trim the deficit to 5, but the hosts answered with 5 in a row to extend their lead into double digits. Pitt-Bradford was able to get the lead down to 7 after a pair of Pitt-Greensburg errors, but the set ended on 7 straight side outs.
Set two saw the teams get off to an even start as they exchanged the lead multiple times early on, eventually being tied at 10 through 20 points. The Bobcats made the first move as they went up two points with 3 in a row, but Pitt-Bradford responded. They quickly cut away at the lead and rolled off 5 straight points to go ahead 19-16. Pitt-Greensburg battled back with 4 straight of their own, but the Panthers were able to close strong, taking 6 of the last 8 points to secure the match. Taylor King had 3 late kills, including the set winner to tie the match at 1.
Pitt-Bradford started set 3 off well, leading early, and eventually pushing their advantage to 4 points after a 6-1 stretch. Emma King and Summer Anderson had 2 kills each in the stretch. They could not hold off the hosts for long, however, as the Bobcats answered with an 8-2 stretch that saw them turn their deficit into a 3-point lead. From that point, neither team was able to string together long rallies, as they combined for 11 side-outs to close the set 22-25.
The Panthers needed to win the 4th set to extend their season and got off to a strong start as they jumped out to an early 5-2 lead. After Pitt-Greensburg erased the advantage and went ahead by 1 after back-to-back aces, the Panthers responded with 4 straight to restore their lead. Ruby Smith and Jenna Louser added kills to a pair of Bobcat errors in the rally. The hosts answered again, quickly scoring 7 of 5 points to go back ahead by 2. The Panthers had another strong push. as they used 2 kills each from Bowman and Anderson, with another from Louser to take another 3-point lead at 19-16. Unfortunately, the Panthers could not maintain the momentum, as the hosts erased their lead with a 6-1 run, and after a side out, pushed Pitt-Bradford to match point with two more. With their backs against the wall, the Panthers were able to score twice to extend the match, but could not come up with the final point they needed, as a long rally ended with a Bobcat kill, bringing Pitt-Bradford's season to an end.
Jenna Louser led the Panthers with 11 kills in the match. She had a .346 hitting percentage and added a solo block. Summer Anderson and Marissa Bowman each finished with 8 kills, while Taylor King added 6. The Panthers split setting duties on the day. Abby King played the middle two sets and finished with 20 assists. Alyssa Radtke played in the bookends and totaled 16. Kayla Maslowski led the back line with 24 digs, while Dylan Amic and Baylee Fitzsimmons each reached double-digit digs, collecting 15 and 14 respectively.
Pitt-Bradford finishes their season 4-21 overall, with a 1-8 record in AMCC play.
