The Pitt-Johnstown volleyball team opened play at the Frostburg State University Tournament with a 3-0 sweep of the host Bobcats on Friday, winning by set scores of 25-23, 25-15 and 25-23 at Bobcat Arena. Senior Caroline Knight paced the Mountain Cats' offense with a match-high 13 kills, helping Pitt-Johnstown improve to 3-2 on the season.
Knight also chipped in eight digs and three block assists for a well-rounded floor performance. Ellie Zuro Cirino backed her up with 9 kills on a blistering .421 hitting percentage, while Kamila Rodriguez Velez added 6 kills and shared the team lead with four block assists. Kiara Harmon rounded out the front-line attack with 5 kills, four blocks and a service ace.
Setting duties were split between Abigail Berry, who finished with a team-high 17 assists, an ace and five digs, and Arielis Valle Villegas, who tallied 15 assists and six digs of her own. Defensively, Avery Koontz and Riley Lockhart each dug up nine balls to anchor the back row.
Pitt-Johnstown controlled the statistical battle from start to finish, out-hitting Frostburg State 40 kills to 30 and out-assisting the Bobcats 37-29. The Mountain Cats also held a 51-45 edge in total points, though Frostburg State finished with a slight advantage in digs (43-42) and blocks (9-8) and served up three more aces (6-3).
The first set was tightly contested throughout, with the two teams trading points deep into the frame. Frostburg State built an early cushion behind kills from Grace Yocham and Kayla Greene, but Pitt-Johnstown answered with a push from Harmon, who served an ace and forced a pair of Bobcat attack errors to give the Mountain Cats a 12-9 lead. FSU clawed back to tie it at 22, but Pitt-Johnstown closed it out on a kill from Brooke Pelloni to escape, 25-23.
Set two was all Mountain Cats. Pitt-Johnstown never trailed by more than a point and pulled away in the middle of the frame, riding a string of Harmon kills and Bobcat attack errors to open a 22-14 cushion. Knight's kill made it 24-14 before Frostburg State briefly slowed the bleeding, but the Mountain Cats closed out the set 25-15 to take a commanding 2-0 match lead.
Frostburg State did not go away quietly in the third, using a service run from Allison Brown to erase a 17-14 Pitt-Johnstown lead and tie the set at 18-18. The two sides went shot-for-shot from there, with the Mountain Cats regaining the lead at 22-20 on a Zuro Cirino kill. Frostburg State pulled within one at 24-23, but Pitt-Johnstown closed out the match with a kill from Zuro Cirino to complete the sweep, 25-23.
Frostburg State was led offensively by Judy Steffens, who finished with 8 kills, while Allison Brown (6 kills) and Alliyah McNair (5 kills) also reached double figures in attempts with productive nights. Setter Pia White dished out 15 assists, and Alyssa Stanton paced the Bobcats defensively with 15 digs and 2 aces as Frostburg State fell to 2-3 on the season.
Pitt-Johnstown continues tournament play Saturday, facing Shippensburg at 11 a.m. before taking on Walsh (Ohio) at 3 p.m., both at Bobcat Arena in Frostburg, Md.
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