Maura Brehl had nine kills, 16 digs and a block to lead five Mountain Cats who had five or more kills, but Clarion University rallied from a six-point fourth-set deficit to deal Pitt-Johnstown a 3-sets-to-one road loss to open PSAC-Play on Friday.  The Mountain Cats dropped to 4-7 overall and 0-1 in the PSAC Central Division.
 
In the opening set, Clarion used a 9-0 run on Chrissy Cotton's serve to break a 6-6 tie and climb out to a 15-6 lead on Lauren Driscoll's kill.  Brehl's kill, followed by a Golden Eagles' attack error got Pitt-Johnstown back to within five, but Clarion quickly pushed its lead into double figures at 22-12 on an Olivia Olson/Julia Holden block, before Olson's kill gave the Golden Eagles the 25-15 win.
 
The Mountain Cats jumped out to an early 4-1 second-set lead on Grace Miller's kill and a Clarion ball handling error, but the Golden Eagles battled back to regain the lead 6-5.  Neither team held a lead larger than two the rest of the way.  After exchanging the lead several times, Pitt-Johnstown got a block from Anna Johns and Noelle Carota to go up 24-23, and Carota followed with a kill to give the Mountain Cats a 25-23 victory and even the match at one set apiece.
 
Clarion doubled-up Pitt-Johnstown, 8-4, in the early going of the third set, but three straight errors and a kill from Johns tied it.  However, Clarion finished strong and outscored the Mountain Cats 17-8 the rest of the way.  The Golden Eagles regained control and pushed the lead out to 17-12 on Lauryn Driscoll's kill and a Mountain Cat attack error, before Olson's 12^th kill of the match closed out the 25-16 win.
 
With their backs against the wall the Mountain Cats ran out to 5-1 lead on a Carota kill and a Caitlin Vrabel service ace.  After Clarion answered to tied it at nine, Pitt-Johnstown got three kills from Vrabel in a 7-1 run to retake the lead 16-10.  The Golden Eagles stormed back to regain the lead 23-22 on Holden's kill, and wrapped-up the match with the 25-23 victory on Driscoll's ace.
 
Along with Brehl, Carota had seven kills and three blocks, and Vrabel had seven kills and one block for Pitt-Johnstown.  The Mountain Cats also got five kills and three blocks from Johns and five kills from Grace Miller.
 
J.C Longeville led Pitt-Johnstown with 20 set assists and 10 digs, while Morgan Yurkovich added eight assists and eight digs.  Erin Carmody finished with 15 digs.
 
Olson's match-highs of 16 kills and six blocks led Clarion, which improved to 10-3 overall and 1-0 in the PSAC Southwest Division.  Holden (14 kills), Aubrey Wrona (12 kills), and Driscoll (10 kills) also ended the night with double-digit kills for the Golden Eagles.
 
The Mountain Cats will play a PSAC match at Indiana (PA) on Saturday at 1 p.m., before making their 2018 home debut in the Sports Center with conference matches against California University (PA) on Friday at 7 p.m. and Seton Hill University on September 22 at 1 p.m.