Bradford, PA. -- The University of Pittsburgh at Bradford women's volleyball team returned to KOA Arena on Saturday afternoon and picked up their first AMCC win of the season with a 3-2 victory over Carlow.
Pitt-Bradford started the match slowly, falling behind 4-1. However, they quickly battled back, scoring 4 straight to take their first lead of the match. A block from Jenna Louser and Ruby Smith started the run before two quick kills by Ryley Pago and Alycia Wilson evened the match. The teams exchanged side-outs before Pitt-Bradford extended their lead with two Wilson kills around another double block. An Emma King kill extended the lead to 13-8, but the Celtics rallied to cut the advantage down to 1 point. The Panthers responded as Louser had 2 kills and 2 aces in an 8-1 Pitt-Bradford rally. The visitors cut the advantage in half with four in a row, but the Panthers closed the set with three straight to win the first 25-18.
The second set saw the Panthers battle early, but fall behind by 5 after a 8-3 Carlow run. Trailing 12-7, the Panthers slowly chipped away at the lead, cutting it to two points after a block by Louser and Alexah Martinez at 19-17. The Panthers could not keep up the momentum, however committing three consecutive hitting errors in a 5-point rally, putting the Celtics on set point. After two Pitt-Bradford points, a Carlow kill finished the set 19-25, to tie the match at 1.
The Panthers jumped back in front with a dominant 3rd set. Tied at 5, Dylan Amic served the Panthers to 5-in-a-row to jump into the lead. Later in the set Wilson picked up two more kills and joined Pago on a block to extend the advantage to 7 points. From that point, the Panthers were able to coast to the finish, ending the set when Martinez put down a kill and then combined with Pago for a block. Pitt-Bradford took the set 25-17 and regained the lead.
Set four was a back-and-forth battle between the two squads, as it contained 11 ties and 5 lead changes. Two more Wilson kills gave the Panthers an early advantage, but neither team was able to rally and build a multiple-point lead. The Panthers were the first to strike, rolling off three straight points with the score tied at 11. The Celtics quickly answered with a 4-1 run and then the team traded the lead three times. Carlow eventually took a 24-22 lead, but Pago was able to extend the set with two straight solo blocks. Pitt-Bradford could not rally any further, however as the teams exchanged side-outs and then a Carlow block ended the set 25-27 to send the match to a deciding 5th set.
Early in the 5th, Carlow jumped ahead, using a kill and 3 straight attack errors to take a 6-2 lead. The visitors maintained a 3-point edge when the teams switched sides at 8 points, but Pitt-Bradford took over from there. Hannah Hirata registered a kill, which was followed by another from Ruby Smith and a hitting error which cut the lead to 1 and forced a timeout. The Celtics quickly pushed their lead back to 3 points at 10-7 before the Panthers scored 6 consecutive points to take control of the match. With Kayla Maslowski at the service line, Smith and Louser each put down two kills, while the Celtics also committed a pair of hitting errors. Following a side out, Smith put the game on match point with a kill and Hannah Hirata ended the match with a service ace.
Alycia Wilson led the Panther attack with 15 kills. She also aided in the defensive effort with 7 digs and 4 blocks. Jenna Louser led the Panthers with 21.5 points as she finished with 12 kills, 5.5 blocks (3 solo, 5 assisted), and 4 aces. Ruby Smith also hit double figures with 11 kills. Hannah Hirata was the Panthers' most efficient hitter, registering 6 kills with a .333 hitting percentage. Alexah Martinez and Abby King split setting duties as Martinez dished out 24 assists and King registered 21. Four Panthers finished with double-digit digs, led by Danielle Sasuga who collected 17. Martinez and Kayla Maslowski both had 15, while Dylan Amic finished with 10. As a team, the Panthers finished with 15 total blocks. Louser was a part of 8 of them, while Ryley Pago had 6 (2 solo, 4 assisted) and Wilson had 4.
The win moves the Panthers to 4-19 overall with a 1-5 record in AMCC play. They have two regular-season matches remaining, needing to win both to qualify for the AMCC Tournament. They will start with a home matchup against 2nd place Alfred State on Wednesday, before hosting Pitt-Greensburg on Saturday. Wednesday's match with the Pioneers is slated for a 7:00 p.m. start in KOA Arena.
