Lauren Gechter finished with a team-high eight kills, but Millersville dealt Pitt-Johnstown a 25-20, 25-11, 25-19 PSAC road loss, Friday night in Millersville. The Mountain cats slipped to 7-5 overall and 0-3 in the PSAC Southwest Division.
Pitt-Johnstown got off to a quick start and used an 8-0 run, capped by
Noelle Carota's service ace, to build a 13-5 advantage. However, Millersville countered and outscored the Mountain Cats 20-7 the rest of the way to take the opening set, 25-20. Back-to-back blocks from Jayci Suseland and Carley Baughman closed a 17-5 spurt that put the Marauders back in front 22-18, before kills from Lindsey Blevins and Haley Butler wrapped-up the set.
Millersville held on to the momentum and scored the first six points of the second set, until Anna John's kills got Pitt-Johnstown back to within two at 7-5. The Marauders quickly regained control and increased the lead to double digits at 21-11 on an Emily Hoffman ace, before going on to the 25-11 victory.
In the final set, Blevins kills helped Millersville run out to a 9-2 lead. The Mountain Cats got back in it and narrowed the gap to two at 20-18 on
Gabi DeRenzo's ace and
Caitlin Vrabel's kill, but Millersville scored five of the final six points, including a combined block from Chyna Gubbings and Blevins that gave the Marauders the sweep with a 25-19 win.
Gechter's eight kills and two blocks paced Pitt-Johnstown. Vrabel had six kills and a pair of blocks, while Johns added five kills and four blocks and Carota had five kills, two blocks, and seven digs.
J.C. Longeville had a team-high 25 set assists, and
Erin Carmody collected a match-high 19 digs for the Mountain Cats.
Millersville, which improved to 12-4 overall and 2-1 in the PSAC Southeast Division, was led by Suseland's match-high 12 kills and four blocks and Blevins' 11 kills and three blocks.
Pitt-Johnstown travels to a PSAC match at West Chester on Saturday, before returning home to host conference matches against East Stroudsburg on October 11 at 7 p.m. and Kutztown on October 12 at 1 p.m.