BRADFORD, Pa. – The University of Pittsburgh at Bradford women's volleyball team will host Medaille Wednesday night for the First Round of the Allegheny Mountain Collegiate Conference Championship Tournament at the KOA Arena.
Wednesday's playoff match is set for a 7 p.m. start.
Pitt-Bradford finished the season with a 7-2 record in AMCC matches to earn the No. 3 seed for the conference playoffs. Medaille is the No. 6 seed with a 4-5 record in conference play.
Overall, the Panthers went 17-12 in the regular season and earned a record on 6-3 on their home court.
The Panthers finished the regular season on a three-match winning streak, defeating Pitt-Greensburg (Oct. 20), Hilbert (Oct. 24) and Penn State-Altoona (Oct. 27) all in straight sets.
Pitt-Bradford exit the regular season atop the AMCC in many stat totals, highlighted by the 18th most digs in NCAA Division III with 2,037 and the 21st most total blocks in the country with 215.
Leading the way on the Panther defense is libero Laura Hildebrand, who recorded her 1,000th career dig Saturday at Penn State-Altoona and is 24th in the nation with 563 total digs. Her 5.31 digs per set rank 60th nationally.
Reigning AMCC Player of the Week Katie Treat leads the team and is 75th in the country with 88 total blocks, and Alexandra Segura leads the conference with 0.99 blocks per set.
Offensively, the Panthers own the conference's top hitter in Riley Anderson, who leads the AMCC with 346 total kills (66th nationally) and 3.64 kills per set (64th nationally).
Anderson's 374 total digs and 3.94 digs per set rank seventh in the AMCC and are the best marks of any outside or middle hitter in the conference.
Emily Cleveland's 331 total kills rank second in the AMCC and her 3.52 kills per set is the third-best average in the conference.
Treat contributes 2.10 kills per set against conference opponents.
Distributing the ball to the hitters is the top setter in the conference Payton Orzech, who leads the AMCC with 914 total assists (70th nationally) and 9.62 assists per set (63rd nationally).
The Mavericks will enter the KOA Arena Wednesday coming off a tough three-set defeat against the No. 2 seeded Mount Aloysius Saturday. This season, Medaille picked up conference wins against Franciscan (Sept. 22), Pitt-Greensburg (Sept. 29), Hilbert (Oct. 16) and D'Youville (Oct. 24).
Medaille is led by outside hitter Melissa Postek with 92 kills and 2.97 kills per set in conference play. The Mavericks' libero Gina Appenheimer ranks fifth in the conference with 4.57 digs per set overall, and her 5.34 digs per set in conference play is the third-best average in the AMCC.
The winner of Wednesday's First Round matchup will advance to the semifinals and face No. 2 Mount Aloysius Saturday. No. 4 La Roche hosts No. 5 Penn State-Altoona in the First Round Wednesday, and the winner of that matchup will take on No. 1 Penn State-Behrend.
After earning the top record in conference play during the regular season, Penn State-Behrend will host both semifinals matches Saturday and the conference title match Sunday.
