Noelle Carota's 17 kills, nine digs, and four blocks led the Pitt-Johnstown volleyball team to a convincing 25-23, 25-21, 25-19 PSAC sweep at Kutztown university on Saturday. The Mountain Cats improved to 8-9 overall and evened their record in the PSAC Central Division at 3-3.
Kutztown jumped out to a quick 9-5 lead to start the match, but Pitt-Johnstown answered with a 7-1 run to take the lead. Kills from
Caitlin Vrabel and Carota tied it at 10, and
J.C. Longeville's kills closed the run and gave the Mountain Cats a 12-10 lead. The Golden Bears regain the lead 16-14 on a block by Niki Carpenter and Jessica Howe. Another kill from Carota put the Mountain Cats back on top by four at 21-17, before Carota's seven kill of the set gave Pitt-Johnstown a 25-23 win.
Kutztown got kills from Howe and Holly Owen to take a 14-11 lead in the second set. Pitt-Johnstown came by to tie it at 19 on
Caitlin Vrabel and Carota's block, then went up 20-19 on a Kutztown ball handling error. The Mountain Cats never trailed again and used a pair of
Hailey Mackenthun service aces to close out the 25-21 victory.
The Mountain Cats led wire-to-wire in the third set to complete the sweep with the 25-19 win. Pitt-Johnstown climbed out to a 6-2 lead on
Maura Brehl and Vrabel kills, before a kill from
Anna Johns and a block from
Tatiana Pitcher increased it to 13-6. Owen's kill helped Kutztown narrow the gap to 23-19, but a kill from Vrabel and Vrabel's service wrapped-up the sweep.
Along with Vrabel's efforts, Pitt-Johnstown also got 10 kills and four blocks from Vrabel and five kills and 14 digs from Brehl.
Longeville collected a match-high 37 set assists, while
Erin Carmody had 14 digs, and Mackenthun chipped-in three aces and eight digs for the Mountain Cats.
Owen had a match-high 19 kills and Brittney Moyer added nine kills for Kutztown, which fell to 6-9 overall and 0-6 in the PSAC Southeast Division.
Pitt-Johnstown travels to a PSAC match at Shippensburg on Tuesday, before returning home to host conference matches against Millersville on Friday at 7 p.m. and West Chester on Saturday at 1 p.m. in the Sports Center.
