No. 1 Pitt Volleyball defeats rival No. 4 Louisville

PITTSBURGH – No. 1 Pitt Panthers volleyball defeated rival No. 4 Louisville in five sets before a raucous crowd at the Petersen Events Center.

The Panthers (18-1 overall, 8-1 ACC) are defeating the Cardinals (16-3 overall, 8-1 ACC) for the third straight season and have defeated them twice at home in 2023, in the regular season and in the Elite Eight . This is the first time they have won three straight games against the Cardinals since they won four from October 2018 to October 2020.

This also gives the Panthers the tiebreaker at the top of the ACC, with both teams having the same record.

Pitt took a 9-3 and 15-8 lead in the first set, forcing Louisville to call both timeouts. Louisville attempted a comeback, but Pitt held on and won the first set 25-21.

Olivia Babcock, a sophomore right guard, led the Panthers with seven kills and a .455 hitting percentage, while Torrey Stafford, also a sophomore and outside hitter, led the way with eight digs.

Louisville took control of the second set early, with leads of 9-3 and 12-5 forcing Pitt head coach Dan Fisher to burn both timeouts. Outside hitter Anna DeBeer, a graduate student, had four kills to start, leading Louisville, while fellow outside hitter Charitie Luper went 5-0.

Fisher opted for a 6-2 rotation, with senior Nisa Buzlutepe coming in for senior Rachel Fairbanks at setter and sophomore outside hitter Blaire Bayless coming in for Babcock.

The move gave the two starters a break and allowed Buzlutepe and Bayless to give the Panthers some momentum.

Pitt cut the lead to just four points, but Louisville used back-to-back kills to take a 19-13 lead.

The Panthers would then go on an incredible 7-1 run to even the set at 20-20. Sixth-year outside hitter Valeria Vazquez Gomez had two kills and a block on the run.

Louisville took a 23-21 lead, but Pitt redshirt junior middle blocker Bre Kelley made a kill and two Louisville attack errors gave them a set point at 24-23.

The Cardinals broke that set point and had three set points before finally prevailing over Pitt to win the set 28-26, ending the game 1-1.

Pitt opened the third set with a 5-2 lead, but Louisville kept it close at 14-13. Pitt would use a 5-1 run to bring both Louisville timeouts to 19-14.

Fisher would call a timeout himself after the Cardinals got two kills to cut the lead to three, giving his Panthers a chance to win the set with a 6-1 run, 25-17.

DeBeer had two attack errors, then Kelley had a kill and a solo block and Vazquez Gomez added a kill and a service ace to secure the set. Pitt beat Louisville .433 to .182 in the third set.

Pitt led 8-6 early in the fourth set, but Louisville battled back to take a 13-11 lead, forcing a timeout.

The Cardinals extended their lead to 16-13, but the Panthers fought back and closed the lead at 16, forcing a Cardinals timeout.

Louisville quickly regained the lead at 19-16 and then extended it to 22-18, forcing Fisher to call Pitt's final timeout. DeBeer made a kill and a solo block while Luper added two kills.

The Panthers went on a 4-1 run to cut the lead to 23-22, with two kills each from Babcock and Stafford. Thanks to a kill each from Luper and DeBeer, the Cardinals would still win the fourth set.

Pitt took a 5-2 lead in the fifth set as they took advantage of two attack errors and a Louisville serve error and the away team called a timeout.

The Cardinals played better after the timeout, with DeBeer getting two kills, but the Panthers maintained the lead 8-6 and switched sides of the court.

Louisville redshirt junior middle blocker Cara Cresse made a kill, but Babcock responded with one of her own and a Louisville attack error led to another timeout with Pitt leading 10-7.

Luper managed a kill, but a serving error by senior libero/defensive specialist Elena Scott kept Pitt ahead 11-8.

Babcock made a kill to extend the Panthers' lead to 12-8, but graduate student middle blocker Phekran Kong made a kill of her own to cut the lead to 12-9.

Louisville had another serving error but would win a long rally and DeBeer made a kill and a block to make it 13-12.

Bayless got a kill and then a netball violation at the Cardinals' end gave the Panthers the win.

Pitt hosts Notre Dame on October 27th at Fitzgerald Field House with a 1:00 p.m. start.

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