Noelle Carota had a match-high 18 kills to help Pitt-Johnstown battle back from a two-set deficit, but West Chester was able to hold off the Mountain Cats, 18-16, in the fifth set to deal the Mountain Cats a PSAC volleyball loss, Saturday afternoon in West Chester.  With the loss, Pitt-Johnstown fell to 7-6 overall and 0-4 in the PSAC Southwest Division.
 
In the opening set, West Chester got a kill from Sarah Polacek to climb out to a 15-9 lead.  Pitt-Johnstown battled back to cut it to 20-19 on kills from Jaden gray and Carota, but the Golden Rams were able to hold on for a 25-23 win on Rachel Robb's kill.
 
West Chester started strong in the second set and used Mel June's service ace to take a 10-5 advantage.  The Golden Rams never trailed again and built the lead to 20-14, before going on to a 25-21 victory on another kill from Robb.
 
Pitt-Johnstown answered with a 29-27 win in the third set.  Caitlin Vrabel's kill put the Mountain Cats on top 12-9, but West Chester came back to regain the lead, 18-17 on Julia Vreeswyk's kill.  The Golden Rams held a 24-23 lead and served to close out the match, but Pitt-Johnstown was able to tie it at 25 on Vrabel's kill, then got back-to-back kills from Gray to secure the two-point win.
 
The Mountain Cats controlled the fourth set.  Pitt-Johnstown raced out to a 13-5 lead on Vrabel's kill and extended it to 19-8, before getting another kill from Vrabel to force a fifth set with a 25-18 victory.
 
Four straight points in the final set erased a two-point Pitt-Johnstown deficit and gave Pitt-Johnstown a 6-4 lead.  West Chester clawed back to regain the lead 10-8 on a Mountain Cat attack error.  It remained close the rest of the way and went to extra points.  However, West Chester got a kill from Alli Miller and an Pitt-Johnstown attack error to hold on for an 18-16 victory.
 
Carota had 18 kills, three blocks, and nine digs, and Vrabel had 13 kills, three blocks, and three aces to lead Pitt-Johnstown.  The Mountain Cats also got 12 kills and eight digs from gray, and eight kills and four blocks from Anna Johns.  Lauren Gechter also had seven kills for the Mountain Cats.
 
J.C. Longeville finished with a match-high 52 set assists and seven digs, while Erin Carmody and Gabi DeRenzo had 23 and 21 digs, respectively for the Mountain Cats.
 
West Chester improved to 13-4 overall and 1-3 in the PSAC Southeast Division behind 14 kills from Polacek and 10 kills apiece from Grace Whitney and Vreesswyk.
 
Pitt-Johnstown returns home to host PSAC matches against East Stroudsburg on Friday at 7 p.m. in the Sports Center and Kutztown on Saturday at 1 p.m.