Alfred, N.Y. -- The University of Pittsburgh at Bradford women's volleyball team was back on the road on Wednesday night, facing a tough challenge at Alfred. The Panthers started slow, and despite battling to a tight 3rd set finish, were swept by the Saxons.
The Panthers struggled to find their footing, dropping set one 25-6 and set two 25-11. They battled back in the third, but could not close out a 24-22 lead and ultimately lost the third 28-26.
The hosts took an immediate lead in the first, scoring the first 6 points of the match, and after an error got the Panthers on the board, pushed their lead to 11-1. Jenna Louser put down the first kill for the Panthers to end the rally, but could not switch the momentum in her team's favor. The Saxons went on to outscore the Panthers14-4, with the Panther points coming via Alfred errors and one Ruby Smith block.
Pitt-Bradford scored the first point of set two, before falling behind the hosts due to a 5-point run. A Brooklyn Bellavia kill and Louser ace cut the lead to 2, but the Saxons quickly extended their lead to 5 with another rally. Ryley Pago recorded three straight kills for Pitt-Bradford, however, they were separated by long Alfred scoring rallies that saw the hosts extend their lead to 14. Alycia Wilson and Alexah Martinez had late kills for Pitt-Bradford before the set ended 25-11.
The third set saw both teams put on long scoring runs to set up a thrilling finish. Pitt-Bradford took an early 3-point lead, but the Saxons responded with 6 in a row to move in front. After a timeout, Marissa Bowman ended the run with a kill, and her effort was followed by an error and another Louser ace, cutting the lead to one. After the Saxons pushed their lead back to 6, Pitt-Bradford quickly scored 5 straight to get the lead back to one. Wilson had a kill and a block split with Pago in the run, while Martinez recorded two aces.
Alfred duplicated the Panther run by scoring 5 out of 6 in a row. Trailing 11-16, the Panthers pulled off their biggest rally of the match to take a lead. With Kayla Maslowski serving, Pitt-Bradford scored 8 in a row to turn their 5-point deficit into a 3-point lead. MAslowski had three aces in the run, while Louser and Emma King had kills. The Panthers maintained their lead and put the hosts on set point with a Pago and Wilson block at 24-22. Pitt-Bradford could not close the set and saw the hosts score three straight to go ahead 24-25. The Panthers reached another set point with a kill by Ruby Smith and an attack error, however, they once again could not finish off the Saxons, who recorded two kills and an ace to win the set 28-26 and the match 3-0.
The Panthers finished with 13 kills in the match, led by Ryley Pago, who had three. Ruby Smith, Jenna Louser, and Alycia Wilson all had two kills, while Pago and Wilson also split two blocks. Alexah Martinez finished with 1 kill, 6 assists, 2 aces and 8 digs. Libero Kayla Maslowski had 14 digs and 3 service aces.
The loss drops the Panthers to 1-12 on the season. They will be at home over the weekend as they will host a tri-match on Alumni and Family Weekend. They will start the day with a matchup against Elmira, and then following a neutral site matchup will take on Wilson to close the event. The action will begin at 1:00 p.m.
