Pioneers fall short in home five-setter to Washington & Jefferson

PITTSBURGH -- Point Park University volleyball came up short in its home volleyball match Tuesday night to Washington & Jefferson College, 3-2. The Pioneers were trailing, 2-1, but after forcing a fifth set, were edged 16-14 in the end. 

W&J won the non-conference matchup with the teams alternating sets, 25-21, 20-25, 27-25, 21-25, 16-14.

For Point Park, it scored 25 points in at least three of the sets, but it wasn't enough. That's with two of the sets going extra points, including the last one. Point Park faced an 8-4 deficit in the fifth, but the Pioneers rallied to tie the score at 8-8 and 13-13. 

W&J had its first match point at 14-13, but Eden McElhaney extended things for the Pioneers with her team-high 18th kill of the night. But unfortunately the Presidents got the next two points to win. 

Both teams had their moments through the first four sets. The Pioneers had some leads to perhaps close out the win sooner, but they were forced to try and make it a five-setter. Point Park was also hampered by too many errors to overcome.

Point Park had three players in double digits for kills. Join McElhaney's 18 were Amanda Contois with 15 and Giulia Follador with 11. Contois hit .355 for the match with the Pioneers coming in at .272 as a team. There were 14 kills combined from the middle with Mariah Perez (8 kills) and Haley Stormer (6 kills). 

Point Park's setters had Elise Wallace dish out 26 assists and Ashlynn Gulakowski 22. Lily Marchand led the back row with 12 digs and four assists. Other digs leaders were McElhaney with nine digs and Kenzie Zauner with eight.

The Pioneers go on the road for a pair of big River States Conference matches this weekend. Point Park plays at St. Mary-of-the-Woods (Ind.) on Friday and IU Kokomo on Saturday to face the top two teams currently in the RSC West Division and a couple of playoff teams from a year ago.