Ellie Zuro Cirino racked up 15 kills as the Pitt-Johnstown women's volleyball team went toe-to-toe with Indiana (PA) for four sets Friday night at the Kovalchick Convention & Athletic Complex, out-hitting the host Crimson Hawks .168 to .157 and claiming the third set 29-27 before suffering a 3-1 PSAC West setback (28-30, 22-25, 29-27, 25-27).
Pitt-Johnstown moved to 11-9 overall and 5-6 in PSAC West play, while IUP improved to 19-4 and 10-1.
Zuro Cirino turned in a well-rounded performance, adding six digs, three blocks and a service ace to her team-high kill total. Alanna Rivera was next with nine kills, hitting .280 and adding six blocks, while Caroline Knight chipped in eight kills, four blocks and 14 digs.
At the net, Dannika Susko led the way with nine blocks (two solo and seven assisted) and hit .333 on three kills without an error. Kiara Harmon contributed eight blocks, seven kills and two service aces, and Kamila Rodriguez Velez added six kills and a block. Both Susko and Harmon recorded career-highs in blocks.
Arielis Valle Villegas ran the offense with 25 assists, a service ace and four digs, and Abigail Berry added 18 assists, five digs and an ace. Avery Koontz anchored the back row with 21 digs, the most of any player in the match.
As a team, Pitt-Johnstown posted 48 kills with just 22 errors on 155 attempts, committing 12 fewer attack errors than IUP (34). The Mountain Cats also won the battle at the net, out-blocking the Crimson Hawks 17 to 12, and finished with 61 digs and 46 assists. IUP held edges in kills (61-48), aces (8-5), assists (60-46) and digs (72-61).
Pitt-Johnstown came out sharp in the opening set, ripping off a 9-1 run from a 2-2 tie behind kills from Rivera and Zuro Cirino, blocks from Knight and Harmon, and a Harmon service ace to lead 11-3. The Mountain Cats still led 18-9 when IUP answered with seven straight points, getting kills from Kyra Schmidt, Delaney Concannon, Sammy Stephens and Charlotte Potvin to trim the margin to 18-16. A block by Rivera and Susko tied the set at 22-22, and a Berry service ace put Pitt-Johnstown in front before an IUP error made it 24-22. The Mountain Cats held set point three times, at 24-22, 25-24 (on a Knight-Susko block) and 28-27 (on a Harmon kill), but Stephens closed out the 30-28 IUP win with the final two kills.
In the second set, Pitt-Johnstown seized an 11-8 lead on three straight points, with blocks from Rodriguez Velez and Harmon and from Zuro Cirino and Harmon forcing errors from Concannon and Jessica Neiman. The set stayed tight into the late stages, tied at 17-17 on a Susko kill, until IUP pulled ahead with four straight points, including kills by Neiman and Potvin, to lead 23-18. The Mountain Cats refused to go away, scoring three straight on a Harmon service ace and a Rivera-Susko block to cut the deficit to 22-24 before IUP took the 25-22 win.
The third set belonged to Pitt-Johnstown, which hit .256 with 14 kills against only three errors. After trailing 8-5, the Mountain Cats tied it at 10-10 on back-to-back blocks from Harmon and Knight and went ahead 11-10. IUP, behind a pair of Delaney Barto service aces, answered with a four-point run to lead 16-14 and held a two-point edge at 22-20, but Pitt-Johnstown kept chipping away. Zuro Cirino's kill tied it at 24-24, and Rivera and Harmon combined on a block to make it 26-25. After Potvin put IUP back on top at 27-26, Zuro Cirino answered with a kill to tie it again, and another Harmon-Rivera block gave the Mountain Cats set point at 28-27 before an IUP attack error ended the set at 29-27.
Pitt-Johnstown saved its best hitting for the fourth set, batting .282 with 17 kills. The Mountain Cats opened with a 2-0 lead on a Zuro Cirino ace and, after falling behind 18-14, rallied with a 6-2 run, getting two kills each from Zuro Cirino and Harmon before attack errors by Potvin and Concannon tied the set at 20-20. Rodriguez Velez came up big down the stretch with kills to give Pitt-Johnstown a 23-22 lead and to tie the set at 24-24, and Zuro Cirino's kill evened it again at 25-25. IUP's Mikalah Kim then put the Crimson Hawks ahead, and Brooke Kessler closed the match with a service ace for the 27-25 final.
IUP was led by Neiman, who hit .371 with a match-high 17 kills, along with Stephens (13 kills), Concannon (12 kills, 17 digs) and Potvin (11 kills, six blocks). Ellie Rauch dished out 27 assists, Maddie Zechman added 25 assists and four service aces, and Kessler recorded 15 digs. IUP improved to 19-4 overall and 10-1 in the PSAC.
Pitt-Johnstown returns home to the Sports Center to close out the regular season with PSAC matches against Seton Hill on Saturday at noon, and Gannon and Edinboro for Senior Weekend next Friday and Saturday.
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