JOHNSTOWN, Pa. - The Slippery Rock University volleyball team lost a Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference Western Division match on the road at Pitt-Johnstown Friday in three sets.
 
Pitt-Johnstown (12-6, 5-4 PSAC West) recorded set victories over The Rock (4-19, 1-9 PSAC West) of 25-22, 25-21, 25-12 to claim the conference win.
 
Erica Selfridge posted her second consecutive double-double, and team-leading seventh of the season overall, to lead SRU with 12 kills and 21 digs. Selfridge earned her 12 kills on an impressive .267 attack percentage.
 
Assisting Selfridge on the attack Friday was Abigail Koeller with six kills and Chelsie Wheeler with four kills of her own. Wheeler also shared team-high honors in blocks at two along with Mary Berger and Stephanie O'Donnell.
 
In addition to tallying 15 assists, Taylor Fellers also matched her season-high of three aces. Rounding out The Rock's top performers against UPJ was libero Kate Lachendro with 18 digs. Lachendro entered the match ranked fourth in the nation in total digs.
 
The opening set saw the evenly matched Rock and Mountain Cats trade points for its near entirety as neither team led by more than three points. However, with the set tied at 17-17, Pitt-Johnstown scored consecutive points to force an SRU timeout. The Rock answered out of the break via a Wheeler kill, but UPJ went on a 4-1 run to take a 23-19 lead.
 
Slippery Rock answered back with three unanswered points to pull to within one point at 23-22, forcing a UPJ timeout. However, the Mountain Cats came out of the stoppage to score two straight points and earn the 25-22 win. Selfridge had five kills and seven digs in the first set.
 
Pitt-Johnstown jumped out to a 10-5 lead in the second set and while Slippery Rock cut the Mountain Cats' lead to two points on several occasions and even to one point, at 17-16, it couldn't quite complete the comeback as UPJ picked up a 25-21 victory.
 
The Rock never found their collective footing in the third set as UPJ darted out to a 9-2 lead on the way to a 25-12 match-deciding victory in the final set of the night.
 
Grace Miller and Katelyn Courtney had nine kills apiece to lead the Mountain Cats.
 
Slippery Rock returns home to host Kutztown University 2 p.m. Saturday at Morrow Field House for SRU's annual Dig for the Cure match.
 



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