Two of the top-ranked teams in the Atlantic Region met when No. 5 Pitt-Johnstown traveled to No. 4 Clarion on Friday, but it was all Mountain Cats.
Cambria Wierman had 12 kills to lead three Pitt-Johnstown players who finished in double figures in kills in a 25-21, 27-25, 25-19 PSAC sweep over the Golden Eagles, Friday night in Clarion.
With the win, the Mountain Cats made it three straight wins and improved to 21-6 overall and 11-3 in the PSAC Central Division.
After falling behind by a pair early in the opening set, Pitt-Johnstown ran off six straight points to take a 10-6 lead on
Caitlin Vrabel's kill. Clarion cut it to one on several occasions, but the Mountain Cats never gave up the lead. Kills from
Maura Brehl and
Kendall Mahony got the lead back to four, before Wierman's kill increased it to 21-16. The Golden Eagles got it back to with two on Taylor Braunagel's kill, but Pitt-Johnstown closed out the 25-21 win with a
Marissa Erminio kill and a bad set by the Golden Eagles.
The second set was just as close. Pitt-Johnstown used a kill from Brehl to climb out to a 10-7 lead. Clarion answered with kills from Julia Holden and Olivia Olson to retake the lead 16-14, but the Mountain Cats kept it close and eventually took it to set point at 24-22 with a two straight kills from Wierman. After the Golden Eagles knotted it at 24 to force extra points, Pitt-Johnstown took advantage of a Clarion attack error and another kill from Brehl and held on for the 27-25 win and go up 2-sets-to-none.
In the third set, a kill from
Noelle Carota and two straight Clarion errors helped the Mountain Cats jump out to a 9-4 advantage. Clarion was able to get as close as 16-15, but the Mountain Cats closed out the sweep with a 9-4 run, capped by kills from Brehl and Erminio and a Golden Eagles' attack error.
Wierman finished with 12 kills and 12 digs to lead Pitt-Johnstown. Erminio had 10 kills, seven digs, and a block, while Brehl collected 10 kills and a pair of blocks. The Mountain Cats also got seven kills and three blocks from
Caitlin Vrabel, and five kills from Mahony in the sweep.
Allison Mondorff had 26 set assists and a dozen digs, and
J.C. Longeville added 18 assists and six digs.
Devan Orr's 17 digs led the way for the Mountain Cats.
Clarion, which fell to 18-9 overall and 9-5 in the PSAC Southwest Division, was paced by Braunagel's match-high 19 kills and nine digs. Holden had 14 kills and a block and Olson chipped-in seven kills and five blocks for the Golden Eagles.
Pitt-Johnstown travels to a PSAC match at Indiana (PA) on Saturday, before closing out the regular season with three straight home conference matches. The Mountain Cats will host Lock Haven on Tuesday at 7 p.m., Millersville on Friday at 7 p.m. and Shippensburg for Senior Day on November 11 at 1 p.m.
