Head Coach Joanna Haupt's Lady Cat volleyball team, 26-8 on the season and champions of the 2017 PSAC Tournament, earned the No. 3 seed and will play sixth-seeded Seton Hill University in the first round of the 2017 NCAA Division II Atlantic Region Volleyball Tournament on Thursday at noon at the McDonough Center in Wheeling, W.Va.

The winner of the Pitt-Johnstown-Seton Hill match will take on the winner of the No. 2-seed Gannon-No. 7-seed Shippensburg match in the Atlantic Region Semifinals on Friday at 5 p.m.  The 2017 Atlantic Region Championship match is scheduled for Saturday at 7 p.m.
   
Eight eight-team regionals will be played at on-campus sites. Regional competition will be single-elimination, best three-of-five-set matches and will not include a third-place match. The winners of each of the eight regionals will advance to the NCAA finals, Dec. 7-9, at the UWF Field House in Pensacola, Fla. Competition at the finals site will be single-elimination; best three-of-five-set matches.
 
Atlantic Region
Hosted by Wheeling Jesuit University, Wheeling, W.Va. – Nov. 30-Dec. 2
No. 1 Wheeling Jesuit (31-5) vs. No. 8 Winston Salem State (NC) (22-7)
No. 2 Gannon (28-6) vs. No. 7 Shippensburg (21-11)
No. 3 Pitt-Johnstown (26-8) vs. No. 6 Seton Hill (22-7)
No. 4 Indiana (PA) (24-9) vs. No. 5 West Chester (24-8)
 
The Regional Quarterfinals game times are tentatively scheduled for noon, 2:30 p.m., 5 p.m. and 7:30 p.m. on Thursday.  Friday's semifinals will begin at 5 p.m. and the second contest is at 7:30 p.m. The Atlantic Regional final will be at 5 p.m. on Sunday evening.
 
Pitt-Johnstown (26-8) was the 2017 PSAC Central Division champions with a 13-5 mark in conference-play.  The Mountain Cats reached the PSAC Championship by sweeping fifth-seeded Shippensburg in the quarterfinals, before outlasting eighth-seeded Edinboro in five sets in the semifinals.   In the finals against second-seeded Gannon, Pitt-Johnstown fell behind by two sets to start but rallied behind tournament Most Valuable Player Marissa Erminio to win the next three sets, including a 15-13 victory in the fifth set to give the program its second PSAC Title.  Pitt-Johnstown also won the conference championship in 2013.
 
Pitt-Johnstown had three players on PSAC All-Conference Teams, including First-Team selections Erminio and senior defensive specialist Devan Orr, a 2017 First-Team CCA All-Atlantic Region selection.  Sophomore middle hitter Caitlin Vrabel earned a spot on the second team.  Orr, the PSAC's all-time leader in digs, also became a four-time first-team selection and a four-time recipient of the conference's Defensive Player of the Year Award.  She is the first PSAC volleyball athlete to win the award in all four seasons and only the third athlete to win four major awards in her volleyball career.
 
Pitt-Johnstown is led by three players averaging more than two kills per set, including Erminio's 3.15 kills per set.  Senior outside hitter Cambria Wierman (2.26 kps.) and junior outside hitter Maura Brehl (2.06 kps) are also averaging over a pair of kills per set.
 
The Mountain Cats have earned a spot in the NCAA Atlantic Regional Tournament in four of the last five years.  After being eliminated in the quarterfinals in 2013 and 2015, Pitt-Johnstown advanced to the regional semifinals in 2016 where it suffered a three-set loss to eventual Atlantic Region Champion Wheeling Jesuit.
 
Seton Hill (22-7), which finished second in the PSAC Southwest Division at 14-4, will be making their third trip to the NCAA Regional Tournament and its first since 2014.  The Griffins won four of the last five regular season matches, but fell suffered a four-set loss to West Chester in the PSAC Quarterfinals.
 
Seton Hill is led by three All-PSAC players in Leah Bisignani (3.10 kills per set), Viktoria Farrian (2.98 kills per set), and Maggie Murray (1.22 kills per set, 7.20 assists per set)
 
The Mountain Cats and Griffins met in the Pitt-Johnstown Sports Center on October 28 and Pitt-Johnstown rallied from a 2-set deficit to win in five sets.  Pitt-Johnstown got 16 kills from Vrabel to lead four Mountain Cats who finished in double figures in kills.  Erminio (15 kills), Wierman (12 kills), and Brehl (10 kills) also had double digit kills.  Bisignani (16 kills), Farian (13 kills), Katie Wenson (13 kills), and Jillian Livorce (10 kills) all had double-digit kills for Seton Hill.