Lualis Alvarado posted a match-high 22 kills and nine digs and Ellie Zuro had 11 kills, but IUP secured a 15-10 win in the final set to earn a five-set PSAC Western Division victory over Pitt-Johnstown, Tuesday evening in Indiana.  The Mountain Cats slipped to 15-4 overall and 3-3 in conference-play.
 
Pitt-Johnstown took charge from the start and raced out to an early double-digit lead in the opening set.  The Mountain Cats used a pair of service aces from Adiamar Beaz and two of Alvarado's six first set kills to score the first seven points, before back-to-back kills from Beaz made it 13-3.  Pitt-Johnstown, which hit .500 in the set, never let IUP get closer than eight the rest of the way.  Jessica Krug's ace pushed it out to 19-4, and two straight Crimson Hawks' service errors gave the Mountain Cats the 25-11 win.
 
IUP bounced back and jumped out to a 13-4 advantage in the second set on a Lauren Valentic kill.  Kills from Alvarado and Dannika Susko cut the Pitt-Johnstown deficit to 16-11, but the Crimson Hawks went on to outscore the Mountain Cats, 9-3, to even the match at one set apiece with the 25-24 victory.
 
In the third set, Zuro's kill put the Mountain Cats on top by two to begin, before IUP countered with a, 7-1, run, capped by Simay Memisoglu ace to go in front, 11-7.  Pitt-Johnstown clawed all the way back to regain the lead, 16-15 on Alvarado's kill and a Natalie Lippincott ace.  However, the Crimson Hawks scored the final three points to erase a late one-point deficit and take the set, 25-23.
 
Pitt-Johnstown and IUP went point-for-point in the fourth set until two straight Alvarado kills gave the Mountain cats a 17-14 lead.  Pitt-Johnstown finish strong with an 8-3 run, including five straight points, to force a fifth set with a 25-17 win on Gabriella DeRenzo's ace and an IUP attack error.
 
A quick 5-1 run to start the final set gave IUP the lead.  The Mountain Cats battled back to tie it on three occasions, with the last at 8-8 on Pinske's kill, but the Crimson Hawks scored seven of the last nine points to wrap-up the 15-15 victory.
 
Along with Alvarado and Zuro, Pitt-Johnstown got nine kills and three block assists from Pinske, five kills from Lippincott, and four kills and a pair of block assists from Susko.
 
Along with four kills from her setter position, Beaz led the way with a match-high 42 set assists, two aces and 13 digs, while DeRenzo tallied three aces and a match-high 28 digs.  The Mountain Cats also got nine digs from Krug and eight digs from Ilagan.
 
IUP, which made it four consecutive wins, was led by Valentic's 12 kills.  Jessica Neiman finished with 11 kills and five block assists, and Peyton Belcher and Memisoglu each had 10 kills for the Crimson Hawks, now 14-6 overall and 4-2 in the PSAC West.
 
Pitt-Johnstown travel to PSAC West road matches at Clarion on Saturday and Slippery Rock on Tuesday.  The Mountain Cats will play their next home match on Tuesday, Oct. 29 when Shippensburg visits the Sports Center for a non-conference match.