Ellie Zuro collected 16 kills to lead three Mountain Cats who finished in double figures in kills, but third-seeded Wheeling (WV) ended the sixth-seeded Pitt-Johnstown volleyball team's season with a four set-victory in Thursday's NCAA Division II Atlantic Region Quarterfinals at the Hagerty Family Events Center in Erie.  The Mountain Cats closed out the year at 19-10.
 
After suffering 25-19 and 25-21 losses in the first two sets, the Pitt-Johnstown claimed the third set, 15-21.  The Cardinals finished it with a 25-21 win in the final set.
 
Zuro and Adiamar Beaz each had two kills to help Pitt-Johnstown jump out to an early 9-6 in the opening set.  Wheeling answered with a 9-3 run, capped by Riley Kindall's kill, to go on top, 15-12.  The Mountain Cats cut it to one on a Natalie Lippincott kill and a Cardinals' attack error, but Wheeling, which hit .324 in the set, pushed it out to 20-14 and went on to a 25-19 win on another kill from Kindall.
 
In a tight second set, Zuro's service ace, followed by Dannika Susko's kill gave Pitt-Johnstown a slim, 11-9 lead, before Wheeling outscored the Mountain Cats, 11-4, to go back in front, 20-15 on Olivia Batch's kill.  Pitt-Johnstown cut it to one on two occasions with the last coming on Lippincott's kill that made it 21-20, but the Cardinals were able to hold on for the 25-21 victory and take a two-sets-to-none lead.
 
Wheeling held the momentum to start the third set and used back-to-back aces from Batch and a kill from Katie Wilking to run out to a 9-2 lead.  Lualis Alvarado, Mallory Pinske, and Zuro combined for seven kills to help the Mountain Cats storm back with a 13-5 run to take a 15-14 lead.  Pitt-Johnstown extended it to 20-16 with the help of two Gabriella DeRenzo aces, the used three straight kills from Pinske to stay alive with a, 25-21, win.
 
In the fourth set, Melia Gorrell's ace got Wheeling out to a 7-3 lead, before the Mountain Cats got a block from Natalie Lippincott and Pinske to narrow it to, 7-6. However, the Cardinals were able to get its lead out to 13-8 and never let the Mountain Cats get closer than two the rest of the way to close out the match with another 25-21 win on Kindall's 26^th kill.
 
Along with Zuro, Alvarado had 13 kills and five digs, while Pinske hit .417 and had 11 kills and a block, and Susko tallied nine kills and two blocks to lead Pitt-Johnstown.
 
Beaz, a Second-Team All-Atlantic Region selection, had four kills, 49 set assists, two aces and a dozen digs, and DeRenzo had a team-high 15 digs and two aces.  The Mountain Cats also got seven digs from Jessica Krug and six digs from Karin Ilagan.
 
The Cardinals, who improved to 26-10 on the year and advance to Friday's Atlantic Region Semifinals to take on the winner of the No. 2 Indiana (PA)/No. 7 Shepherd (WV) match, were led by Kindall's match-highs of 26 kills and 16 digs, and Batch's 14 kills and 10 digs.