Noelle Carota's nine kills and two blocks led a balanced Pitt-Johnstown attack that helped the Mountain Cats claw back from a 2-sets-to-1 deficit to open PSAC-play and make Friday's 2017 home-opener in the Sports Center a good with a five-set victory over Edinboro University.  Pitt-Johnstown improved to 11-3 overall and 1-0 in the PSAC Central Division.
 
After the Mountain Cats took the opening set 25-16, Edinboro answered with 25-19 and 25-16 wins.  However, Pitt-Johnstown cruised to a 25-9 victory in the fourth set, before securing a 16-14 win in the final set.
 
Pitt-Johnstown dominated the opening set.   Delaney Roman's service ace put the Mountain Cats up four to start, before Cambria Wierman's kill and two Edinboro errors increased it 12-4.  The Fighting Scots got it down to seven at 17-10 on a bad set by Pitt-Johnstown, but the Mountain Cats quickly pushed it into double figures at 21-11 on an Edinboro ball handling error and a Carota kill.  Pitt-Johnstown then closed out the 25-16 win on kills from Maura Brehl and Carota.
 
Just the opposite of the first set, it was the Fighting Scots who started fast and ran out to a 6-2 lead.  The Mountain Cats scored the next three to cut it to one, but Edinboro regained control with 6-2 run to extend its lead to five on Paige Morris' kill.  Pitt-Johnstown came back again to get to within two, but Edinboro was able to build its lead to as many as seven on another Morris kill, before taking the set, 25-19, on Cierah Jackson kill.
 
The third set started out tight, but the Fighting Scots were able to pull away for the 25-16 win and go up 2-sets-to-1.  Neither team held a lead of more than one through the first 26 points, but Edinboro broke a 13 all tie and outscored Pitt-Johnstown 12-3 three rest of the way.  After Carota's kill knotted it at 13, the Fighting Scots pushed it out to 21-16 on a Syndey Trathen kill, then ended it with kills from Challen Litwiler and Tessa Sikora.
 
Needing a victory to force a fifth set, the Mountain Cats rolled to a lopsided, 25-9, win in the fourth set.  Pitt-Johnstown never trailed and scored the first three points on its way to building a 14-6 advantage on Devan Orr's kill and a Fighting Scots attack error.  The Mountain Cats extended it to 22-7 on a Brehl kill and two more Edinboro errors, before forcing a deciding set with Marissa Erminio's kill and another Fighting Scots' attack error.
 
In the fifth and deciding set, Pitt-Johnstown held two-point leads on five occasions, only to see Edinboro come back to tie it three times.  However, with the score knotted at 14, the Mountain Cats got a kill from Cambria Wierman to regain the lead and sealed the 16-14 victory a Fighting Scots' attack error.
 
Along with Carota's nine kills, three other Mountain Cats had eight kills.  Kendall Mahony had eight kills and six blocks, Brehl tallied eight kills and four blocks, and Caitlin Vrabel had eight kills and three blocks.  Pitt-Johnstown also got seven kills and 11 digs from Erminio and six kills, three blocks, and eight digs from Cambria Wierman.
 
J.C. Longeville led the Mountain Cats with 22 set assists and nine digs, while Allison Mondorff had 21 assists and 13 digs.  Devan Orr finished with a match-high 17 digs for Pitt-Johnstown.
 
Litwiler and Jackson tied for match-high with dozen kills each, and Trathen chipped-in seven and a match-high 32 assists for Edinboro, which slipped to 10-2 overall and 0-1 in the PSAC Northwest Division.
 
Pitt-Johnstown will host a PSAC match against Slippery Rock on Saturday at 1 p.m. in the Sports Center, before traveling to conference matches at Gannon University and Mercyhurst University next weekend.