Carnegie Mellon clips Point Park in Pittsburgh volleyball matchup, 3-1

PITTSBURGH -- Carnegie Mellon University won the final two sets to break away from Point Park University for a 3-1 win at the Student Center Center Gym Tuesday night. The Tartans (6-2) won the non-conference volleyball matchup, 26-24, 23-25, 25-20, 25-13. 

Point Park (2-4) fought off a set point in the first to tie the score at 24-24. But the Tartans got the next two points to take the early lead. Point Park had taken earlier leads of 8-3 and 20-17 but could not take advantage. The latter of those two leads was after three straight kills from Amanda Contois.

The Pioneers trailed, 21-20, in the second set before two straight kills from Mariah Perez and another from Lily Marchand inched the Pioneers ahead, 23-21. Haley Stormer put down set point for a 25-23 win. 

The third set was within a few points until CMU built a 22-15 lead, which caused the Pioneers to call a timeout. Point Park got as close as 24-20, but it was too late. 

CMU rode a 7-2 lead in the fourth to make it a victory in four sets. The Tartans got the attack going with 16 kills in the third and 19 in the fourth. Point Park had its best attacking in the first two sets with 12 kills apiece in those. 

Perez led Point Park with 10 kills and seven digs along with a .467 attack percentage. Eden McElhaney put up eight kills and eight digs. Contois finished with seven kills with five of them coming in the first set. 

Elise Wallace collected 16 assists and eight digs while fellow setter Ashlynn Gulakowski totaled 15 assists. Kenzie Zauner (12 digs) and Mia Arndt (11 digs) led the back row. 

CMU had some big performances from Elizabeth Schlemmer with 19 kills and a .441 percentage along with Laura Reichard 13 kills, 12 digs and a .367 percentage. 

Point Park turns its record to 0-0 with the start of River States Conference play this coming weekend. The Pioneers got to WVU Tech on Friday, Sept. 15 (7:00 p.m.) and visit Alice Lloyd (Ky.) on Saturday, Sept. 16 (12:00 p.m.)