Noelle Carota had a match-high 14 kills and
Maura Brehl added 11 kills to help the Pitt-Johnstown volleyball team avenge a an early season loss to West Liberty (WV) University with a 25-13, 25-17, 25-23 non-conference sweep over the Hilltoppers, Tuesday night in the sports Center. The Mountain Cats improved to 7-8 on the year.
Pitt-Johnstown took an early first set lead and cruised to a 25-13 win. After
J.C. Longeville's kill gave the Mountain Cats an 11-5 advantage, Pitt-Johnstown broke it open with an 11-4 run. A kill from
Tatiana Pitcher increased it to double digits, before Carota's kill and a West Liberty ball handling error gave Pitt-Johnstown its largest lead of the set at 22-9. The Mountain Cats then wrapped it up with
Caitlin Vrabel's kill.
In the second set, Pitt-Johnstown scored three straight points to spark a 7-2 run, capped by Carota's kill, that made it 15-10. The Hilltoppers, aided by a pair of Pitt-Johnstown errors, cut it to 16-14, but the Mountain Cats got four kills from Carota and one from Vrabel to push it out to 21-14 on their way to a 25-17 victory behind kills from
Anna Johns and Brehl.
After falling behind 1-0 to start the third set, Pitt-Johnstown outscored West Liberty, 12-6, to build a five-point lead. The Hilltoppers clawed back to tie it at 13 on Olivia Baumhower kill, and retake the lead 15-14 on a Mountain Cat
attack error. Then, with the scored knotted at 23, Pitt-Johnstown used another Hilltopper ball handling error and a combined block from Johns and Pitcher to complete the sweep with the 25-23 win.
Carota finished with a match-high 14 kills and 15 digs, while Brehl had 11 kills, nine digs, and four blocks to lead Pitt-Johnstown. The Mountain Cats also got nine kills and three blocks from Vrabel, eight kills and two blocks from Pitcher, and three kills and a match-high six blocks from Johns.
Longeville collected a match-high 39 set assists and two blocks, while
Erin Carmody had 17 digs, and
Hailey Mackenthun had 12 digs for the Mountain Cats.
Stephanie Leonard's seven kills led the way for West Liberty, which slipped to 15-4 on the season.
Pitt-Johnstown travels to PSAC matches at East Stroudsburg on Friday and Kutztown on Saturday. The Mountain Cats will play their next home matches on October 5 at 7 p.m. against Millersville, and October 6 at 1 p.m. against West Chester.
