INDIANA, Pa. – IUP women's volleyball erased a 10-point deficit in the opening set and avenged its only PSAC loss of the season with a 3-1 victory over Pitt-Johnstown on Thursday night at the Kovalchick Convention and Athletic Complex.
The Crimson Hawks improved to 19-4 overall and 10-1 in PSAC play with the 30-28, 25-22, 27-29, 27-25 victory. IUP flipped the result from the first meeting between the teams after Pitt-Johnstown handed the Crimson Hawks a five-set loss Oct. 3.
IUP faced an uphill battle almost immediately, falling behind 16-6 in the opening set. The Crimson Hawks steadily chipped away at the Mountain Cat advantage before completing the comeback and taking a marathon opening frame, 30-28.
The momentum carried into the second set, with IUP earning a 25-22 victory to take a 2-0 advantage in the match.
Pitt-Johnstown refused to go away, extending the match with a 29-27 victory in another tightly contested third set.
The fourth followed a similar script, with neither side able to create much separation. IUP eventually finished off the season-series split by taking another extended frame, 27-25.
Three of the four sets required extra points, with the two teams combining for 213 points over the course of the match.
Jessica Neiman paced a balanced IUP attack with a match-high 17 kills, while Sammy Stephens added 13 and Delaney Concannon finished with 12. Concannon also collected a team-high 17 digs to finish with a double-double.
IUP finished with 61 kills in the match and saved its most efficient offensive performance for the fourth set, hitting .313 with 15 kills on 32 attempts.
Maddie Zechman provided a spark from the service line with four aces while adding 25 assists. Ellie Rauch dished out a team-high 27 assists and collected 10 digs.
Charlotte Potvin led the Crimson Hawks at the net with six total blocks. Mikalah Kim added five blocks, while Stephens finished with four.
IUP held advantages in kills, assists, digs and service aces. The Crimson Hawks finished with 61 kills, 60 assists, 72 digs and eight aces.
The victory marked IUP's seventh consecutive win and 13th victory over its last 14 matches.
