Maura Brehl finished with a match-high 18 kills and 15 digs to lead three Mountain cats who finished in double digits in kills, but host Hilltoppers secured a 3-sets-to-1 victory over Pitt-Johnstown in Friday's second round of the West Liberty/Wheeling Jesuit Conference Crossover in Wheeling W.Va. Pitt-Johnstown is now 4-4.
In a tight first set, Pitt-Johnstown climbed out to an early three-point lead, before West Liberty regained the lead 12-10. The lead see-sawed back-and-forth. Kills from Brehl and
Noelle Carota gave the lead back to the Mountain Cats at 16-14, but the Hilltoppers tied it at 18 and went on to outscore Pitt-Johnstown 7-4 the rest of the way to earn a 25-22 win.
In the second set, neither team held a lead larger than two until Carota's kill gave the Mountain Cats a 13-10 advantage. West Liberty clawed back to tie it at 20, but Pitt-Johnstown closed out the
25-22 victory by taking five of the next seven points, including a pair of kills from
Caitlin Vrabel.
Caitlin Clarke's kill and two West Liberty blocks put the Hilltoppers in front 15-9 midway through the third set. Pitt-Johnstown narrowed it to 23-20 on
Tatiana Pitcher's kill, but West Liberty was able to hold on and claimed another 25-22 win on Madison Clayton's kill.
Amanda Leonard's service ace closed out a 6-0 West Liberty run and gave the Hilltoppers a 14-6 lead in the fourth set. Pitt-Johnstown came back to cut it to 22-20 on a kill from Brehl, but West Liberty recovered and closed out the four-set win, 25-21.
Along with Brehl, Carota had 13 kills and a block, and had 10 kills and a pair of blocks for the Mountain Cats.
Tatiana Pitcher tallied five kills, and
Anna Johns had four kills and six blocks.
J.C. Longeville had a match-high 26 set assists and five digs, while
Morgan Yurkovich chipped-in 22 assists and four digs.
Erin Carmody led everyone with 23 digs.
Raimey Baumhoer, Clarke, and Clayton all had 11 kills to help the Hilltoppers improve to 8-2.
Pitt-Johnstown wraps-up the West Liberty/Wheeling Jesuit Conference Crossover Tournament with matches against Fairmont State (WV) and 14th-ranked Wheeling Jesuit on Saturday, before opening PSAC-play at Clarion on September 14 and at Indiana (PA) on September 15. The Mountain Cats will make their 2018 home debut in the Sports Center with PSAC matches against California University (PA) on September 21 at 7 p.m. and Seton Hill University on September 22 at 1 p.m.
