CLARION, Pa. — Pitt-Johnstown battled back to take Clarion down to the wire before falling short in a five-set loss (25-23, 24-26, 23-25, 25-19, 11-15) on Saturday afternoon in Tippin Gymnasium.
The Mountain Cats slipped to 15-9 (6-6 PSAC) with two regular-season matches remaining.
Ellie Zuro Cirino tallied a team-high 18 kills and added nine digs. The junior outside hitter was prolific in the final set, racking up five kills, including back-to-back kills that gave Pitt-Johnstown an 11-10 advantage. Clarion, however, scored the final five points to take the match.
Junior Caroline Knight went for 17 kills, 15 digs and two aces in another stellar outing. Dannika Susko recorded 11 kills just a night after going for a season-high 13 in a win over Slippery Rock.
Natalie Lippincott and Mallory Pinske each contributed four kills. Abby Berry passed out a match-high 44 assists and added 11 digs, while Jessica Krug provided a team-high 29 digs.
Pitt-Johnstown led by its largest margin in the fifth set when Knight and Zuro smacked back-to-back kills to make it 7-4. However, the Mountain Cats ended up on the wrong side of five lead changes from that point on.
It was the other way around in the fourth set when the Mountain Cats crawled back from being down on six different occasions to finally grab the lead for good. A 3-0 run capped by a kill from Zuro brought it to 19-17 before a 6-2 rally that ended with another Zuro kill evened the match at 2-2.
It was a promising start for Pitt-Johnstown after hanging on late to secure the opening set.
Tied at 18-all, Zuro hammered down a kill and Berry rattled off three straight aces as part of a 5-0 run that afforded the Mountain Cats a 23-18 lead. The Golden Eagles netted five points of their own to tie it before a service error and a combo block from Knight and Susko sealed the set.
Clarion upped its record to 12-14 (6-6 PSAC) behind a match-high 20 kills from Raegan Stader and another 15 from Claire Bickett.
Pitt-Johnstown will visit Seton Hill at 7 p.m. on Friday, Nov. 14 in the penultimate regular-season match ahead of the PSAC Tournament that kicks off Nov. 18.
