BOLIVAR, Mo. -- The Pitt State Volleyball team earned their first win of the 2015 season with a 3-1 win over Southwest Baptist in Bolivar on Friday (October 9) night.

After fighting through 17 ties and eight lead changes, many late in the set, in the first set, the Gorillas were off to a good start with a 29-27 win in set one. The Bearcats came back to win set three 25-16. Set three saw the Gorillas fight back to win another close set, 25-23. Although there were five ties in the set, Pitt State never allowed the Bearcats to have the lead. Set four was all the Gorillas as they won 25-19 and did not commit a hitting error in the set.

Pitt State hit .195 as a team for the match and committed 20 errors compared to a .156 hitting percentage with 32 errors for the Bearcats. The Gorillas were also impressive on the block with almost twice as blocks as the home team, 11.0 to 6.0.

Maggie Highberger led all players with 14 kills. Lana DaSilva was also in double figures for the Gorillas with 10 kills. Erin Wolford had a .412 attack percentage as she had eight kills with only one error in 17 attempts. Taylor Unke also added eight kills.

Wolford was the leader for the Gorillas on the block with seven blocks, one solo and six assisted. DaSilva added five blocks, one solo and four assisted. Lauren Regier added four and Unke, three. Ashlen Schwartz recorded 20 digs for Pitt State. Taylor Wright and Taylyn Schwartz were just under double figures in digs with nine a piece.

The first set went back and forth and both teams struggled with errors. A big block by Unke and Regier and a SBU attack error gave the Gorillas a two-point lead at 22-20. The Bearcats used three kills, only interrupted by one Unke kill to tie the match at 23-23. Pitt State called a timeout and immediately came out and scored off a kill from Highberger. SBU came back and tied the match at 24-24. There were ties again at 25, 26 and 27 before back-to-back SBU hitting errors gave the Gorillas the win.

Pitt State built up a five point lead, 18-13, in the third set. Southwest Baptist came back using some well-time blocks to tie the set at 21-all. DaSilva put down back-to-back kills to give Pitt State a 23-21 lead, but again the Bearcats came back to tie. There was still plenty of fight left in the Gorillas though, as a Regier kill and a block by Regier and Unke gave Pitt State the 2-1 advantage in the match.

SBU kept the Gorillas close in the fourth set, including a tie as late as 14-14. Pitt State led by as many as six at 22-16. Southwest Baptist closed the gap to three at 22-19, but Pitt State scored the last three points of the match, with kills by Ashlen Schwartz and DaSilva and a final block by the tandem of Regier and Unke for the 25-19 set four win and a the 3-1 win in the match.

The Gorillas return to action on Saturday as they take on rival Missouri Southern in Joplin at 1 p.m. on Saturday.