Mallory Pinske, Lualis Alvarado, and Natalie Lippincott all finished in double figures in kills to help the Mountain Cats bounce back from an opening set loss, to secure a 3-sets-to-1 PSAC Western Division victory at Mercyhurst, Friday evening.  Pitt-Johnstown improved to 11-5 overall and evened its record in conference-play at 2-2.
 
After dropping the first set, 28-26, Pitt-Johnstown bounced back with 25-23, 25-21, and 25-17 wins to wrap it up.
 
Mercyhurst used a Mountain Cat service error to jump out to a 9-5 lead in the first set, but Pitt-Johnstown responded to tie it at 15 on a Lippincott kill and go in front on one of Pinske's seven opening set kills.  It remained close, and the Lakers fended off a pair of set points to take the set, 28-26, on a kill from Kate Hennessy.
 
Pitt-Johnstown ran out to a 12-6 lead in the second set on Jessica Krug's ace and Alvarado' kill.  Madelynn Ward's ace helped Mercyhurst battle back to cut the deficit to one at 17-16, but the Mountain Cats never gave up the lead.  Journey Welling's kill pushed it out to 23-18, and kills from Alvarado and Lippincott gave Pitt-Johnstown the 25-23 win to even the match at one set apiece.
 
In the third set, back-to-back kills from Lippincott gave the Mountain Cats a 12-7 advantage, but the Lakers answered with a 7-2 run to knot it at 14.  However, Pitt-Johnstown got an ace from Pinske to extend the lead to 21-17, then used a Dannika Susko kill and two Mercyhurst attack errors to win the set, 25-21.
 
Neither team was able to establish momentum in the fourth set until Pitt-Johnstown broke a 14-all tie and outscored the Lakers 11-3 to close out the match.  Casiano Liredys' ace put the Mountain Cat on top 18-15, before two aces from Lexi Pendergraft and kills by Pinske and Christen Maloney gave Pitt-Johnstown the 25-17 victory.
 
Pinske led the way with a match-high 14 kills, one ace and a block, while Alvarado had a dozen kills and eight digs, and Lippincott had 11 kills and a block.  Pitt-Johnstown also got five kills from Brooke Pelloni.
 
Adiamar Beaz's march0high 41 set assists and nine digs, and Gabi DeRenzo's match-high 25 digs and for assists paced the Mountain Cats.
 
Mercyhurst, which slipped to 3-10 overall and 1-4 in the PSAC West, got 12 kills from Paige Miller and eight kills and 10 digs from Andrea Zaric.
 
Pitt-Johnstown Travels to Gannon for a PSAC West match on Saturday at noon, before completing its suspended match at Edinboro on Saturday at approximately 4 p.m.  The Mountain Cats return home to host conference matches against Slippery Rock on Oct. 13 and California (PA) on Oct. 14.