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Pitt-Bradford Wins Again
GREENSBURG, Pa. - The University of Pittsburgh at
Bradford women's volleyball
team put the finishing touches on a glittering regular-season on
Saturday with a
four-set win over Pitt-Greensburg.
While having already clinched the Allegheny Mountain
Collegiate Conference title
and securing the tournament hosting rights that go with it,
yesterday the
Panthers posted a 25-13, 25-21, 20-25, 25-19 win over the Bobcats
to end AMCC
play undefeated at 9-0.
The win also upped Pitt-Bradford's record to 22-3
overall _ the most wins ever
in school history - and extended the team's winning streak to 20
matches. The
streak is the second longest in the country behind Cal-Luthern
(22) among all
Division III teams.
"To go unbeaten in the conference is outstanding," UPB
coach Tina Phillips said.
"We've never won it before and to go 9-0 and to keep the streak
going is just
unbelievable. Twenty wins in a season is a benchmark, let alone 20
in a row."
The Panthers started strong against UPG, but couldn't hold on to a
lead in the
third set as the Bobcats (5-16, 4-4) pulled out a five-point win
over the
Panthers.
"We came out and dominated the first game," Phillips
said. "Then we played
alright the second game, but then our passing started to break
down and we gave
them some momentum. We've always found Greensburg a tough place to
play for some
reason and in that third set I thought they gave more effort than
we did."
The Panthers regrouped, however, getting big games from middle
hitters Cari
Olewinski and Maggie Johnson in the fourth set. Olewinski would
finished the day
with 10 kills while Johnson had seven kills.
"Cari and Maggie gave us some big kills in each of their
rotations," Phillips
said. "And Jackie (Podrasky) and Meghan (Lindquist) were steady
all day, giving
us some big play from the outside."
Directing the attack was senior setter Alisha Wisel, who
finished with 48
assists, five kills, 14 digs and one block.
"Alisha gave us a good job all around," Phillips
said.
Podrasky ended with a team-high 16 kills and 21 digs, while
Lindquist added 14
kills, and Katrina Sungail two kills.Laura Long had four kills and
three
assists, Michelle Sink five digs, and Jillian Reitz 25 digs.
As the No. 1 seed, Pitt-Bradford will have a bye in
Tuesday's first round of the
AMCC playoffs. The Panthers will play in the semifinals on Friday,
at 6 p.m.,
against the winner of No. 4 Medaille (17-15, 5-4) and No. 5
Pitt-Greensburg.
"I wish we were a little bit sharper going in, but we've
been meeting everyone's
challenge," Phillips said. "But its a whole new challenge in the
playoffs."
In Tuesday's other first-round match, No. 6 Mt. Aloysius
(7-16, 3-6) is at No. 3
Penn State-Behrend (18-10, 7-2). That winner will play in the
semifinals at UPB
on Friday at 8 p.m. against No. 2 Penn State-Altoona (21-10, 8-1).
The finals
are set for Saturday at 1 p.m.
