Alliance, Oh. -- The University of Pittsburgh at Bradford women's volleyball team hit the road for their matchup on Friday night, traveling to Ohio to take on Mount Union. The Panthers struggled to find their footing against the Purple Raiders, losing in three sets.

The Panthers fell behind early in each set, and could not keep up with the hosts, dropping all three sets by identical 25-12 scores. 

In set one, the Panthers were able to keep the hosts within reach, forcing the Purple Raiders into multiple errors, including a double block by Brooklyn Bellavia and Ryley Pago. With the Panthers trailing 5-7, Mount Union took control, going on an 11-1 run to build an insurmountable lead. Marissa Bowman, Emma King, and Bellavia all added kills late in the set, but the Panthers could not maintain a rally, dropping the set 25-12.

Pitt-Bradford got off to a better start in the second set, as a few errors and a pair of kills by Alycia Wilson put the Panthers ahead 6-5. After the second point by Wilson, the Purple Raiders put together multiple scoring rallies, quickly turning the Panther edge into a 22-9 lead of their own. Ruby Smith and Mia Gonzales had kills to slow the rally, while Wilson added two more kills late in another 25-12 set loss. 

Mount Union got off to a fast start in the third, quickly scoring 8 of 9 points. The Panthers were able to start a rally, cutting the lead to just 5 after a Jenna Louser kill, but the Purple Raiders answered back, scoring 4 straight to go ahead by 9. For the remainder of the match, the hosts limited the Panther's ability to rally, recording side-outs as soon as Pitt-Bradford regained the serve. Gonzales, Louser, Alexah Martinez, and Taylor King all recorded kills as the match came to a close.

The Panthers could only muster 16 kills in the match, led by Alycia Wilson, who had 5. Jenna Louser added 3 kills and posted one of the Panthers' top hitting percentages at .214. Alexah Martinez recorded 9 assists and 8 digs, while Kayla Maslowski led the defense with 13 digs. 

The Panthers fall to 1-5 after the loss. They will have two more matches in Ohio tomorrow. They begin with a match against Baldwin Wallace at 10:30 a.m. and then will take on Grove City at 12:30.