Grace Miller had 17 kills, Lualis Alvarado had 16 kills, and Cassie Pascarella added 14 kills to help Pitt-Johnstown win its eighth straight match and begin PSAC-Western Division play with a five-set victory at Slippery Rock on Tuesday.  The Mountain Cats improved to 8-1 overall and 1-0 in the PSAC West.
 
Pitt-Johnstown and Slippery Rock split the first four sets with the Rock winning the first and third sets 25-17 and 25-20, and the Mountain Cats taking the second and fourth sets 25-13 and 25-21.  Pitt-Johnstown then earned a 15-6 victory in the finale.
 
In the opening set, Slippery Rock jumped out to a 10-6 lead, before pushing it out to 15-9 on a Mountain Cat attack error.  Pitt-Johnstown was able to narrow the gap to four on several occasions, but the Rock scored the final four points to close out the 25-17 win.
 
Two early second set kills from Pascarella gave Pitt-Johnstown a three-point lead, but Slippery Rock answered with an 8-2 run to go on top 8-6.  However, Pitt-Johnstown took control and pulled away for a 25-13 victory with a 19-5 run of its own.  Five straight points from the Mountain Cats, including a kill by Katelyn Courtney, gave the lead back to Pitt-Johnstown.  The Mountain Cats never looked back and used a pair of kills from Alvarado and Parscaella and a Slippery Rock service error to knot it at one.
 
In the third set, Pitt-Johnstown fell behind by three to start, but clawed back to take a 9-5 advantage on a Miller kill.  Slippery Rock kept it close and got a kill from Chelsie Wheeler to regain the lead, 15-13, then outscored the Mountain Cats, 7-2, to break an 18-all tie an take the set, 25-18 on Abigail Koeller's kill.
 
Alvarado's kill helped Pitt-Johnstown storm out to a 12-5 lead to begin the fourth set.  The Rock battled back and scored five straight points to tie it at 17, but that was as close as it would get.  The Mountain Cats pushed it out to 23-19 on one of Alvarado's seven fourth-set kills, then got a kill from Miller to force a fifth set with the 25-21 win.
 
In the race to 15 to decide the match, Pitt-Johnstown scored the first seven points on three straight kills from Alvarado and back-to-back Adiamar Beaz service aces and never looked back on its way to a 15-6 victory.
 
Miller had 17 kills and 19 digs, Alvarado had 16 kills and 12 digs, and Pascarella had 14 kills to pace Pitt-Johnstown.
 
The Mountain Cats also got six kills from Lauren Gechter and four kills and five blocks from Courtney.
 
Beaz finished with 38 set assists, 16 digs, and four aces, while Erin Carmody collected seven assists and 24 digs for the Mountain Cats.
 
Koeller's 10 kills and seven digs and Erica Selfridge's nine kills and 11 digs led the way for Slippery Rock, which fell to 3-10 overall and 0-1 in the PSAC West.
 
Pitt-Johnstown will make its 2021 home debut with a PSAC match against Mercyhurst on Saturday at 1 p.m. in the Sports Center, before traveling to conference matches at  Gannon on October 1 and Edinboro on October 2.