Pitt-Johnstown capped its regular-season slate with a resounding 3-1 victory over Clarion on Saturday afternoon at the Sports Center.

The Mountain Cats earned a season-split with the Golden Eagles and improved to 19-9 overall (6-8 PSAC West) by way of a 25-20, 25-18, 22-25, 25-16 decision.

Despite being eliminated from PSAC Tournament contention after a loss to IUP on Friday night, the Mountain Cats' season will merely be put on hold as they wait for the NCAA Division II Atlantic Region Tournament to begin on Dec. 5. A near-flawless non-conference record helped them rank fifth out of eight teams in an Atlantic Region poll released on Nov. 13.

Just like she has for much of her four-year career, senior Lualis Alvarado spearheaded the attack with a team-high 15 kills in her final home match. Ellie Zuro contributed nine kills.

Mallory Pinske, Natalie Lippincott, Adiamar Beaz and Dannika Susko all chipped in five kills apiece. Beaz directed the offense to the tune of match-highs of 36 assists and five aces. She also supplied 17 digs.

The Mountain Cats never trailed in the opening set, and built a lead as large after Beaz recorded a kill to make it 16-6. Despite that lead shrinking to two late, three straight points, including a kill and an ace from Alvarado and a kill by Pinske, sealed a 1-0 advantage.

Following an up-and-down start to the second frame, Pitt-Johnstown found its footing midway through after going up 13-10.The Mountain Cats notched four of the next five points to extend the cushion to 17-11, their largest of the set. Clarion rallied to within two on three occasions, but the Mountain Cats scored six of the final seven points, punctuated by a thunderous kill from Alvarado.

Instead of allowing a narrow setback in the third set to bog them down, the Mountain Cats convincingly bounced back in the fourth after it was tied at 6-all. A service error and a service ace from Beaz gave them an 8-6 lead they never relinquished. 

Senior Gabriella DeRenzo racked up a match-high 20 digs in her final home match. Jessica Krug added 11 digs, Alvarado had nine and Karin Ilagan provided seven more. Clarion had already locked up a spot in the PSAC Tournament before concluding its regular-season at 15-10 overall (9-5 PSAC West).

Pitt-Johnstown will not know its next opponent until after the PSAC Tournament concludes in the coming weeks.