Pitt-Johnstown went swing-for-swing with Seton Hill, but suffered an eerily similar fate in each of the first two sets that ultimately culminated in a straight set defeat (23-25, 23-25, 21-25) on Tuesday night at The Katherine Mabis McKenna Center.
Despite a valiant effort early on in a pair of sets, points became hard to come by late as the Mountain Cats settled for a season split with the Griffins and fell to 14-7 (5-4 PSAC).
Mallory Pinske spearheaded the Pitt-Johnstown attack with a team-high 13 kills on 24 attempts. Lualis Alvarado added eight kills, while Natalie Lippincott chipped in seven. Alvarado and Pinske each had four total blocks.
Adiamar Beaz dished out 33 assists and added another service ace to bring her PSAC-leading total to 45 in 72 sets played. Gabi DeRenzo collected a match-high 19 digs.
The Mountain Cats found themselves down by four twice in the second set, but tied it at 12-all on a kill from Alvarado. Pinske's kill a bit later made it 20-17. However, the Griffins answered with a 4-1 run to knot it at 21-all.Â
Lippincott's clutch kill kept the Mountain Cats alive and tied the set at 23, but the match turned heavily in favor of the Griffins when a kill by Paige Cole and an attack error gave them the final two points and a 2-0 lead.Â
It was much of the same story in the opening set that was tied on 10 different occasions. The Mountain Cats seemingly remained one step ahead of the Griffins and took advantage of back-to-back errors to go up 23-21. That lead evaporated when Seton Hill scored the last four points of the set capped off with a kill from Catie Flohr.
Pitt-Johnstown never found its footing until it was too late in a third set where it went down by as many as 10 at 13-3. A kill by Alvarado combined with a Seton Hill attack error helped the Cats claw to within 15-14, but the Griffins put it away with a 9-4 rally that put them on top 24-18.
Flohr recorded a team-high 11 kills for Seton Hill, which improved to 9-12 (3-6 PSAC).
With just eight matches remaining in the regular season, the Mountain Cats sit fourth in the PSAC West and host Edinboro at 1 p.m. on Saturday in the Sports Center.
