Marissa Erminio had a team-high 17 kills and 15 digs, and Catilin Vrabel added 12 kills and a block, but Fairmont State (WV) University took the first two sets, then got a 25-23 come-from-behind win in the fourth set to secure a 3-sets-to-1 victory over the Pitt-Johnstown volleyball team in Friday's second Round of the West Liberty/Wheeling Jesuit Crossover Tournament.  The Mountain Cats had their six-match winning streak snapped and slipped to 9-2 on the year.
 
After dropping the first two sets 27-25 and 16-25, Pitt-Johnstown stayed alive with a 25-20 win in the third set.  However, Fairmont State scored the final six points of the fourth set to seal the victory with a 25-23 win.
 
Pitt-Johnstown ran out to an early 7-2 first-set lead on kills from Noelle Carota and Vrabel, before Fairmont State battled back with 8-3 run, capped by a Julia Shemaitis kill, to knot it at 10.  It stayed close the rest of the way, and the Falcons held a slim one-point advantage, but Kendall Mahony's kill knotted it at 25 to force extra points.  However, with the scored tied at 25, Pitt-Johnstown had a service error and Mackenzie Harrison followed with a kill to give Fairmont State the narrow 27-25 win.
 
The Falcons held the momentum to begin the second set and build a 10-4 lead on Harrison's ace.  Pitt-Johnstown answered with three straight points, including another kill from Carota that cut it to 10-7, but Fairmont State regained controlled and used a 9-3 spurt to take a 19-10 lead on Morgan Poling's kills.  The Falcons eventually pushed it out to 24-14 and got a Kill from Harrison to earn the 25-16 victory and go up 2-sets-to none.
 
With their backs to the wall, the Mountain Cats started fast in the third set and doubled-up Fairmont State, 14-7, on J.C. Longeville ace.  The Falcons answered back to take their first lead of the set at 17-16, but Pitt-Johnstown outscored Fairmont State 9-3 the rest of the way.  Kills by Maura Brehl and Marissa Erminio extended the Mountain Cats' lead to 22-19, and Erminio's 12^th kills of the evening gave Pitt-Johnstown the 25-20 win.
 
The Mountain Cats kept it going to start the fourth set and opened-up 10-6 lead on Carota's kill, before Fairmont State clawed back to tie it at 15 on Alyssa Kelly's kill.  It still looked good for Pitt-Johnstown.  The Mountain Cats got the lead back out to four on thee occasions, with the last coming at 23-19 on Brehl's kill, but the Falcons used four kills from Harrison and the match clincher from Kelly to finish on a 6-0 run to take the deciding set, 25-23.
 
Along with Erminio and Vrabel, Pitt-Johnstown got nine kills and 11 digs from Cambria Wierman and seven kills and three blocks apiece from Mahony and Carota.  Brehl also had five kills.
 
Allison Mondorff led the way for the Mountain Cats with 29 set assists and 10 digs, while Longeville chipped-in 23 assists, a pair of aces, and four digs.  Devan Orr finished with a match-high 38 digs for Pitt-Johnstown.
 
Harrison's match-high 24 kills, three aces, and 19 digs, and Shemaitis' 17 kills and 13 digs paced Fairmont State, which improved to 7-2.
 
Pitt-Johnstown concludes the Wheeling Jesuit University/West Liberty University Crossover Tournament on Saturday with matches against the University of Charleston (WV) and Wheeling Jesuit, before making its 2017 home debut in the Sports Center with PSAC matches against Edinboro on September 22 at 7 p.m. and Slippery Rock on September 23 at 1 p.m.