Seton Hill took part in its first NCAA Atlantic Regional in three seasons as they battled Pitt Johnstown in the quarterfinal at Wheeling Jesuit on Thursday afternoon. After dropping a hard fought first set by the score of 29-27, the Griffins could not handle the Mountain Cat attack and UPJ eliminated the Griffins from the Atlantic Regional with a 3-0 victory. SHU ends the season at 22-8.
Pitt Johnstown took an early lead in the first set at 7-5. A kill from
Jillian Livorse cut the UPJ lead to 7-6. An ace from
Viktoria Farian gave SHU their first lead at 11-10. Another kill from Livorse gave SHU its first two point lead at 15-13. After UPJ tied the set at 16, Farian answered with a kill to give SHU a 17-16 lead.
Maggie Murray and
Leah Bisignani combined on a block to give SHU a 20-18 lead. Farian and Bisignani followed with a block to force a UPJ timeout at 21-18. After UPJ scored two points, Farian gave SHU a 22-20 lead. UPJ answered with two straight and SHU called a timeout at 22-22. Bisignani connected on a slide and SHU led 23-22. Livorse killed a UPJ set point and tied the set at 24.
Rachel Satira and
Katie Wenson combined on a block to give SHU a 25-24 lead. Wenson's kill gave SHU a 26-25 lead. After a great dig from
Mary Baich, Farian saved another UPJ set point to tie the set at 27. UPJ answered with two points to take the first set by a 29-27 score.
UPJ jumped out to a 3-0 lead in the second set before a kill from Farian ended the run. A kill from Bisignani and an ace from Murray cut the UPJ lead to 6-5 early in the set. UPJ was able to build their lead to 16-9 midway thru the second set. UPJ was able to take a 2-0 lead after a second set 25-13 win.
The Mountain Cats rode the momentum from the second set to take a 5-1 lead in the third set. They were able to extend their lead to 10-3 forcing the Griffins to take a timeout. Kills from Farian and Bisignani trimmed the UPJ lead to 13-8. The Griffins took their final timeout at with the Mountain Cats leading 19-10. UPJ closed out the match with a 25-11 third set win.
Viktoria Farian led the Griffins with 8 kills.
Jillian Livorse finished with 7.
Leah Bisignani added 6.