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Pitt VB HC Dan Fisher Reflects on Season So Far and Looks to Tough Games Ahead

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Pitt volleyball head coach Dan Fisher

Pitt is continuing to stay around the best squads in women’s volleyball in 2022, as they have done so for the past several years.

Panthers head coach Dan Fisher is currently in his 10th season in that role. Since he started in 2013, Fisher is largely responsible for making the program into the behemoth it is today.

The Panthers have made the NCAA Tournament in six consecutive seasons beginning in 2016 and won three straight ACC regular season championships from 2017-19.

They also made the Elite Eight for the first time in the 2020 season and then earned the No. 3 seed in the NCAA Tournament in the 2021 season. After defeating the Penn State in the second round, Pitt hosted their first NCAA Regional and then made it to their first Final Four.

The Panthers are 14-2 overall and 4-0 in conference play so far this season and also on a seven-game winning streak. This includes wins over then No. 7 BYU and then No. 5 Ohio State, with the win over Ohio State the first sweep against a top five ranked team at home. The losses also occurred against solid teams like now No. 4 San Diego to open the season and undefeated Towson, both of whom should feature in the NCAA Tournament.

They rank at No. 9 in the latest AVCA Coaches Poll and also No. 5 in the first DI Committee’s Top 10 rankings as well.

Fisher is happy with where his team is at right now and that their performances put them in a position to host again in the tournament. The tough non-conference schedule is one that Fisher believes his team handled well and will benefit them later on in their quest to earn that top four seed.

“At the start of the year I told the team, “Hey I don’t know that we’re player-for-player the best team in the country, but we’re not far off,” Fisher said. “So, the question is, for us, will we be in November, December? So, we’re trying to stay focused in improving our game.”

Pitt is currently led offensively by Iowa grad transfer and right setter Courtney Buzzerio. Buzzerio has led Pitt or tied for first in kills for eight straight games and is ninth in the ACC with an average of 3.40 kills per set. She also ranks seventh in the conference with an average .343 hitting percentage and sixth with 226.5 total points in 2022.

Fisher also used the transfer portal to bring in two other valuable pieces to this Panthers squad this offseason in two outside hitters.

Sophomore Julianna Dalton transferred from Washington State after playing just one season in 2020. She features heavily in the Panthers attack on offense and averages around 2.34 kills per set.

Texas A&M grad transfer Cam Ennis is also making her mark for Pitt. While she is an outside hitter, she plays at the setter position in most of Pitt’s matches. Ennis created 21 assists in the win over Virginia last Wednesday and then 19 assists over High Point on Sunday.

This is due to both setters, sophomore Rachel Fairbanks and senior Lexis Akeo, dealing with different injuries recently. Fairbanks is the starting setter, but suffered an injury in pregame against Virginia, so she played more sparingly than usual, while Akeo did not play at all last weekend.

Fisher said that both Dalton and Ennis have performed exceptional this season and that they will be important players throughout 2022.

“Julianna has far exceeded my expectations in the back row,” Fisher said. “Much better than I could’ve predicted. She’s a wonderful teammate and a wonderful person. She’s just working to be a little bit more consistent offensively. Cam we recruited to be an outside hitter. She is one of our best attacking outsides. We haven’t been able to work with her as much as I would like as a passer because we’ve had her set. We would not be where we are right now without Cam. She’s had a great attitude about setting even though she wants to be getting some more reps on the outside. But both have been huge pieces for us.”

Fisher is not new to the transfer portal and has used it in previous years to bring in talent to help his team compete at the highest level. He believes that the city of Pittsburgh is beneficial to bringing in grad transfers like Buzzerio and Ennis and that there are no complaints from him on the transfer portal as whole.

“I think it’s helped a lot for us,” Fisher said. “I think an older person sees all the things a city has to offer. So, it’s a pretty attractive place to live for someone who’s thinking, “Hey I’ll do a one-year Master’s.” It’s definitely been good to us.”

Another transfer who is a big part of Pitt’s plans to win a National Championship is graduate middle blocker Serena Gray.

Gray transferred from Penn State after the 2020 season, starred for Pitt in their Final Four run last year and continues to play as one of the best middle blockers in the country in 2022.

She currently leads the ACC in hitting percentage at .402, which is also 24th in the country. She also ranks eighth in the conference with 57 total blocks and 14th with 1.04 blocks per set.

Joining Gray in the middles is senior Chiamaka Nwokolo, who is 11th in the ACC with 56 total blocks and ninth with 1.08 blocks per set.

Fisher said that they improved as blockers compared to last season and that they both make for one of the strongest middle combinations in Division I.

The Panthers are also led by veterans in redshirt junior outside hitter Valeria Vazquez Gomez and senior librero/defensive specialist Ashley Browske.

Vazquez Gomez provides versatility on both offense and defense. For instance, she had 20 kills against High Point on Sunday, but also made a career high 24 digs against NC State on Sept. 25. She currently ranks second on the Panthers for kills and third for digs.

Browske leads her team defensively and also as a captain. She ranks first in digs for Pitt with 169 total, an average of 3.13 per set.

Fisher said that his team’s passing performance is great so far. Pitt ranks rank first in the ACC and ninth in the country for most assists per set at 13.07, validating his claim. The combination of two great setters in Fairbanks and Akeo and also Ennis providing backup allows Pitt to maintain great service regardless of who’s on the floor.

Other players that provide help off the bench are graduate middle blocker Sabrina Starks, sophomore librero/defensive specialist Emmy Klika and junior outside hitter Cat Flood. Fisher said that he sees improvement in Klika’s game, particularly in her passing, indicating increased playing time for her in the future.

Pitt still plays two of their toughest opponents twice the rest of the way in No. 10 Georgia Tech and No. 2 Louisville. Those matches will likely determine who wins the ACC Tournament and if Pitt wins at least three of those matches, a chance for them to host an NCAA Regional in back-to-back seasons.

Fisher said that the ACC as a whole this season is one of the best conferences, even outside of Pitt, Georgia Tech and Louisville. The ACC currently holds 116 victories in non-conference games this year, the most for any conference in Division I.

“Definitely,” Fisher said in terms of the ACC’s rising play. “The last two years, we’ve blown it out of the water. I think at this point, RPI wise, I think in the top 10, the Big 10 is doing the best. But I would say, as a whole conference, we have an argument with anyone that we’re as good as anyone.” 

The sport of volleyball is continuing to rise in popularity, particularly in 2022. No. 3 Nebraska hosted in-state foe, Creighton in early September and broke the record for most attended volleyball match at 15,797.

Georgia Tech and Louisville faced off last Sunday and played each other on ESPN, prime viewing for a national audience looking for something other than the NFL to watch.

Pitt’s game against Georgia Tech next Sunday is at McCamish Pavilion, Georgia Tech’s basketball arena. This is the first time the venue is hosting a volleyball match.

Fisher has seen the popularity of the sport is growing continuously over time. He stated that volleyball is the biggest sport in terms of participants for girls and women in the United States and that their support drives the want for more volleyball on television and elsewhere.

“Well, the main thing is it’s about time!” Fisher said. “I think, hopefully we’re hitting a tipping point where we’re gonna start to get more games on TV, because they go together. If you don’t see it on TV, you don’t notice. So, I think that’s kind of where we’re at as a sport is we feel like we have a very good product. We have the fanbase, there are girls that played. Obviously, guys that play as well, but we want to continue to get those crowds so that ESPN wants to put more games on TV. Then there’s just the average person who has more awareness of it.”

Fisher believes that Pitt’s four matches in the home-and-away vs. Georgia Tech and Louisville are great opportunities for his team to showcase their abilities. Also, he thinks that these are the type of teams that his team needs to beat if they want to make a deep run in December.

“We feel like playing that caliber of team late in the year, that’s the type of team we’ll see deep into the tournament, Fisher said on the upcoming matches. “So, we feel like we’re well prepared for the tournament, based on who we play in our league, especially at the end. The main thing is to keep working on being better and trying to be as healthy a team in the end.”

 

Sandy Schall, Coldwell Banker
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