Lualis Alvarado and Ellie Zuro each had 11 kills to help Pitt-Johnstown cruise to a 25-13, 25-16, 25-13 PSAC Western Division win over California (PA), Friday evening in the Sports Center.  The Mountain Cats, listed among the Top-10 teams in the hunt for a NCAA postseason berth, improved to 17-8 overall and 4-7 in conference-play.
 
The Mountain Cats took control early in the opening set and got two kills apiece from Alvarado and Mallory Pinske to build a 12-6 lead.  After Caroline Knight's kill got the lead into double digits at 20-10, Zuro closed out the 25-13 win with her third kill of the set.
 
Pitt-Johnstown held the momentum and led wire-to-wire in the second set.  Kills from Adiamar Beaz and Pinske closed an 8-1 run that put the Mountain Cats on top 11-4, and a quick 5-0 spurt increased it to 17-6, before Alvarado's service gave the Mountain cats a 2-sets-to-none advantage with a 25-16 victory.
 
Cal U kept the third set close early and used an Allie Droneberger kill keep the Vulcans within one, but Pitt-Johnstown scored seven of the next points to push it out to 15-8 on a Beaz ace and a Vulcans' attack error.  The Mountain Cats never looked back and wrapped-up the three-set sweep with a 25-13 win on Kiara Harmon's kill and a Cal U attack error.
 
Along with Alvarado and Zuro, Knight had eight kills, while Dannika Susko and Pinske collected seven and six kills, respectively for the Mountain Cats.
 
Beaz finished with a match-high 39 set assists, two aces, and seven digs.  Pitt-Johnstown also got 19 digs from Gabriella DeRenzo, nine digs from Karin Ilagan, and seven digs from Alvarado.
 
The Vulcans, who dropped to 3-18 overall and 0-12 in the PSAC West, got four kills each from Elisa Ruigero and Droneberger.
 
Pitt-Johnstown will celebrate Senior Day against Seton Hill, Saturday at noon in the Sports center, before finishing the regular season with home matches against Indiana (PA) and Clarion next weekend.