Pitt earned a No. 2 Seed in the 2022 NCAA Women’s Volleyball Tournament Sunday night and they take on Colgate in the First Round.
This is the seventh straight and seventh overall appearance in the NCAA Tournament for the Panthers under head coach Dan Fisher, which is the longest streak in program history. It is also the 18th overall appearance in the tournament for the Panthers. The Panthers have improved their performances during that time, making it to the Elite Eight in the 2020-21 season and the Final Four for the first time last year.
The No. 2 seed means that Pitt hosts the First Round and the Second Round if they win the first game. If they earned a No. 1 seed like last year, they would’ve hosted to the Final Four, but Wisconsin (25-3 overall, 19-1 Big Ten) earned it ahead of them. They will, most likely, travel to Madison if they make it to the Sweet 16, that takes place on Thursday, Dec. 9.
Pitt finished the season with a 27-3 overall record and a 17-1 ACC record, that earned them a share of the ACC Title with No. 1 seed Louisville. They finished with a 5-2 record against ranked opponents and won a program record four times against teams ranked in the top 10.
Pitt takes on Colgate in the First Round of the NCAA Tournament on Friday, Dec. 2 Â at 7 p.m. at the Petersen Events Center. They played Colgate once prior, which ended in a sweep for Pitt at home in 2015.
If they win, they face off against No. 7 seeded BYU or James Madison. Pitt defeated then ranked No. 7 BYU in four sets in September on the road, for their first ranked win of the season. They take on either team on Saturday, Dec. 3 at 7 p.m. again at the Petersen Events Center.
This season for Pitt proved to be an arduous one that sees 13 schools make the NCAA Tournament that they’ve already played this season. This includes three other ACC opponents, along with Louisville, in No. 7 Florida State, No. 7 Miami, No. 5 Georgia Tech.
Pitt swept Miami and Florida State in straight sets the same weekend in October. They defeated Georgia Tech twice, on the road in four sets and last Wednesday at the Petersen Events Center in a five-set thriller. Pitt held on for a five-set classic against then ranked No. 2 Louisville on Oct. 23 and suffered a sweep on Nov. 18 on the road against them.
Other seeded teams that Pitt played along with No. 7 BYU include No. 2 San Diego, No. 3 Ohio State, No. 8 Hawai’i and No. 8 Towson.
Then ranked No. 25 San Diego defeated Pitt in first game of the season in the Texas A&M Invitational in five sets. Towson took down Pitt in four sets, the only team to defeat Pitt at home in 2022.
Pitt swept Hawai’i in the Texas A&M Invitational and swept then ranked No. 5 Ohio State on Sept. 18, for the first top 5 win at home in program history.
The final four teams that Pitt played are High Point, Bowling Green, Utah State and Tennessee. Pitt swept Utah State in the BYU Nike Invitational on Sept. 2. Pitt also swept Bowling Green and Tennessee in consecutive weekends in September and defeated High Point in four sets in their final non-conference game on Oct. 2.
The Panthers will be looking forward to the difficult competition and try to make their first ever NCAA Tournament Final in Omaha, Neb. on Dec. 17.
I was hoping for the one seed, but it figures they would give the Big 10 Champs the one seed even if their rpi is worse. A little surprised that Stanford got the 1 over San Diego too. Well, in order to be the best you have to beat the defending champs. Congrats ladies and good luck in the tournament! H2P!