Greenville, Pa. -- The University of Pittsburgh at Bradford volleyball team seemed poised to push their winning streak to three matches after taking a two-set lead on Tuesday evening at Thiel, but the Panthers could not finish off the Tomcats and ultimately fell in 5 sets 3-2.

Pitt-Bradford jumped out to a 2-0 lead, winning a tough first set 26-24 and then the second 25-19. They battled to the end of the third, but lost 25-22 and then dropped set four 25-17 to set up a deciding fifth set. In the fifth, the Panthers started strong, but could not keep up with the Tomcats who eventually won the match with a 15-8 victory in set five.

In the first, the Panthers were able to build an early 3-point lead thanks to back-to-back service aces from Danielle Sasuga. The hosts rallied to build a t-point edge of their own at 11-14. A Service error led to an 8-2 Panther run that included two kills from Alycia Wilson, one from Ruby Smith, and aces from Sasuga and Alexah Martinez. The Tomcats battled back, and even put the Panthers on set point after a kill made the score 22-24. Pitt-Bradford put together one final rally and after three straight errors, Wilson put down another kill to secure the set for the Panthers.

Pitt-Bradford lost the momentum from the first as the next set began, allowing the hosts to score the first five points of the set. Trailing 5-8, Ruby Smith recorded three straight kills, and then Sasuga tied the set at 9 with another ace. Despite their rally being slowed by a timeout, the Panthers continued their run and went on to score 6 of 7 and build a 15-11 lead. Emma King, and Ryley Pago both put down kills in the run. After the Panther advantage was extended to 7, Thiel made a run to cut into the lead, but four different Panthers finished off kills to end the set 25-19.

Neither team grabbed control of the 3rd set in its early stages, as they split the first 18 points. The hosts rallied first, taking a 9-12 lead with a 4-point run before the Panthers scored 6 of 7 to turn the deficit into a 15-13 lead. The Panthers recorded 3 blocks in the run, while Wilson added two more kills. The teams exchanged side-outs until another 4-point rally put the Tomcats on set point at 20-24. The Panthers were able to cut into the lead with two straight, but could not finish the rally, dropping the set 22-25.

The Panthers started set 4 slowly and quickly fell behind 1-8. Alycia Wilson cut into the lead with a personal 4-kill rally and the Panthers eventually cut the lead down to 1 point with an Emma King Kill at 10-11. The Tomcats regained control of the set with 5 straight points and were able to limit the Panthers to 4 points down the stretch to send the game into the fifth set.

Pitt-Bradford jumped out to a 3-0 lead in the deciding set thanks to kills by Taylor King and Ruby Smith, but quickly lost momentum as Thiel scored 6 of the next 7 points. The Panthers stemmed the tide with a Brooklyn Bellavia kill followed by a service ace by Abby King, tying the set at 6. The hosts then grabbed control with 5 straight, and despite an Emma King kill, pushed the contest to match point at 7-14. Alycia Wilson kept the Panthers alive with a final kill, but the match ended a point later with a Thiel kill.

Alycia Wilson led the Panther attack with 19 kills, matching her season high from the win over Penn State-Shenango. She finished the match with a .250 hitting percentage and also chipped in defensively, finishing with 7 digs and 2.5 blocks. Ruby Smith and Emma King each added 9 kills, while Ryley Pago added 5. Alexah Martinez and Abby King split setting duties, as Martinez recorded 21 assists, and King finished with 16. They also each reached double figures in digs, collecting 11 and 12 respectively. Kayla Maslowski finished the match with a team-high 39 digs, Dylan Amic added 16, and Danielle Sasuga had 19 to go along with 6 service aces. 

The Panthers fall to 3-13 on the season. They will have the weekend off, before beginning their AMCC slate next week. The Panthers will return to action next Tuesday at Penn State-Behrend with the match beginning at 7:00 p.m.