PITTSBURGH, Pa. – Chatham Women's Volleyball (7-1, 2-0 PAC) captured their second consecutive straight set (25-20, 25-21, 25-11) victory to begin PAC play on Saturday afternoon over Saint Vincent (2-4, 1-1) at the Athletic and Fitness Center.
 
The Cougars and Bearcats traded points early in the match, with neither team holding more than a two-point advantage until Chatham took a 16-13 lead. After Saint Vincent went up 18-17, the Cougars rattled off six consecutive points, three of them Maren Balint kills, to go up by five and seal set one. Balint would get kills on the first two points of the second frame, in which Chatham led 9-4 before a Bearcat run knotted the score at 14 apiece. The Cougars would trail 20-17 before winning eight of the final nine points of the set to take a 2-0 lead. Three early kills in the third set by Alexia Bowers would help Chatham take a 12-5 advantage, and the Cougars never looked back, looking dominant to ultimately win their sixth consecutive set to start conference play and ninth straight set overall.
 
Maren Balint was the match leader in kills with 14 on .324 hitting and blocked three Saint Vincent attacks. Ava Plunkard recorded a double double for Chatham with 15 assists and 10 digs. Evelyn White recorded a match high 4 blocks. Alexia Bowers totaled 7 kills, a category in which the Cougars led 36-21, and also finished the match with 10 digs. Sierra Ricci tallied 29 digs for Chatham, the second-highest total for a PAC player this season in a 3-set match behind only her 31 digs in the Cougars' 3-0 win over Pitt-Greensburg. Chatham held the Bearcats to -.016 in the attacking department while hitting .135 as a team.
 
The Cougars will host Franciscan on Tuesday at the Athletic and Fitness Center with a 6 p.m. scheduled first serve.