Pitt-Johnstown never quite found its rhythm in a 16-25, 29-27, 21-25, 19-25 setback at Slippery Rock that closed out the regular-season slate on Saturday afternoon at Morrow Field House.
The Mountain Cats dropped to 19-10 overall and finished up PSAC play with a 9-7 mark. After already securing the No. 4 seed in the West in the upcoming conference tournament on Friday, the loss had no effect on postseason play.
Lualis Alvarado paced the attack with a match-high 14 kills and added 16 digs. Natalie Lippincott tallied 12 kills. Freshman Brooke Pelloni provided 10 kills, giving her 23 total over the last two matches.
Adiamar Beaz notched a match-high 43 assists, while libero Gabi DeRenzo had a match-high 27 digs.
A few early mistakes put the Mountain Cats in an 11-3 hole in the first set. The deficit proved to be too steep as Slippery Rock capitalized on a service error to take its largest lead at 20-10 and go up 1-0.
Pitt-Johnstown crawled back into the match by keeping its composure down the stretch of a hotly contested second set. The Rock forced a match-point on a service ace from Jaedan Yost, but the Mountain Cats came back to tie it with a 4-0 run capped off with an ace from DeRenzo.
Slippery Rock came within a point of ending the match two more times before a 3-0 rally that included a pair of critical kills from Alvarado brought the marathon of a set to a close and tied the match at a set apiece.
Alvarado knotted the third frame at 13-all with a kill, but a 7-2 run by The Rock allowed them to take the lead for good. Unfortunately for the Mountain Cats, it was much of the same in the fourth set where they never led again after The Rock went on a 6-0 run to go up 13-7.
Callie Chevelier recorded a team-high 13 kills for Slippery Rock, which wrapped up its season at 14-15 overall (6-10 PSAC).
The Mountain Cats will travel to Erie to face West No. 1 seed Gannon in the PSAC quarterfinals that commence on Tuesday at a time to be determined.
