Lualis Alvarado and Mallory Pinske had 15 kills apiece to lead the Pitt-Johnstown volleyball team to a 25-22, 25-22, 25-21 sweep over the hosts to open the West Chester University Tournament, Friday evening in West Chester.  The Mountain Cats improved to 4-1.
 
West Chester got off to a quick start and built four five-point leads with the last coming at 16-11 on a Golden Rams' block.  Pitt-Johnstown answered with seven straight points to take a two-point advantage of its own.  A kill from Alvarado knotted it at 16 and a combined block from Dannika Susko and Alvarado put the Mountain Cats up 18-16.  It stayed close, but Pitt-Johnstown scored the final three points, including one of Pinske's five kills in the opening set, to take a 25-22 win.
 
In the second set, Alvarado's kill gave the Mountain Cats a 10-6 lead, before West Chester clawed back to cut the deficit to one on three separate occasions.  The Rams eventually tied it at 22 on a Brynn Dreisbach kill, but Pitt-Johnstown bounced right back with three straight points to take the set 25-22 and build a 2-sets-to-none lead on Alvarado's service ace.
 
West Chester used Zoe Haines' kill to race out to a 12-4 lead to begin the third set, but Pitt-Johnstown followed with a 9-1 run, capped by a pair of Alvarado kills on one from Pinske to tie it at 13.  Two more kills from Alvarado put the Mountain Cats up by two, and Pitt-Johnstown never trailed again on its way to the sweep with the 25-21 win.
 
Alvarado collected 15 kills, 11 digs a block solo and a block assist, while Pinske added 15 kills and six digs for the Mountain Cats.  Pitt-Johnstown also got eight kills and a pair of blocks from Natalie Lippincott, and four kills and two block assists from Brooke Pelloni.
 
Adiamar Beaz led everyone with 41 set assists and nine digs, while Gabi DeRenzo finished with a team-high 15 digs for Pitt-Johnstown.
 
West Chester, which slipped to 2-3 on the year, was led by Dreisbach's 10 kills and five digs and Haines' nine kills.
 
The Mountain Cats will finish the West Chester Tournament with matches against West Virginia Wesleyan and Felician (NJ) on Saturday, before traveling to the Wheeling/West Liberty (WV) Tournament next weekend.  Pitt-Johnstown will make its 2023 home debut with a PSAC match against Seton Hill on Sept. 22.