JOHNSTOWN, Pa. — The Pitt-Johnstown volleyball team stormed ahead in the latter stages of the fifth set to clinch a 3-2 victory (25-18, 22-25, 25-16, 21-25, 15-11) over IUP in a PSAC West battle on Saturday afternoon at the Sports Center.
The Mountain Cats recorded a .230 hitting percentage Crimson Hawks their first conference defeat and improved to 9-5 (3-2 PSAC).
Down 8-7 in the final set, Ellie Zuro Cirino notched a kill to spark a 3-0 run that gave Pitt-Johnstown the lead for good. The Mountain Cats sealed the match with a 4-1 run that concluded with back-to-back kills from Alanna Rivera and Brooke Pelloni.
Kiara Harmon led a balanced offensive attack with a team-high 12 kills. Caroline Knight contributed 10 kills and a match-high five blocks. Ellie Zuro Cirino had 10 kills, a match-high four aces and 12 digs.
The Mountain Cats erased an early 4-1 deficit in the opening set with a 4-0 run to go ahead 5-4. Tied at 14-all, Pitt-Johnstown pulled ahead to stay with a 7-0 spurt that included three well-placed aces from Zuro Cirino. Dannika Susko supplied a kill to end the set and give the Mountain Cats a 1-0 lead.
After IUP tied the match at 1-all, Pitt-Johnstown responded with a commanding win in the third set. The Mountain Cats built an 8-6 lead and put the set out of reach with a 9-2 rally that saw a pair of kills from Zuro Cirino and Harmon. Harmon then closed out the set with a kill off an assist from Abby Berry, who dished out 16 assists.
Arielis Valle Villegas racked up a match-high 23 assists and chipped in eight digs. Avery Koontz supplied a match-high 22 digs.
Pitt-Johnstown will visit PSAC West-leading Gannon at 7 p.m. on Friday.
