PITTSBURGH — No. 7 Pitt volleyball put on a dominant performance in their sweep of Virginia Wednesday night at Fitzgerald Field House.
The Panthers (17-3 overall, 8-1 ACC) improve to 18-3 in the all-time series with the Cavaliers (8-11 overall, 1-8 ACC) with the victory. The Panthers are also 13-2 in the ACC since 2013 against the Cavaliers and on an 11-match winning streak against them. The win is also makes it two in a row overall, as the Panthers defeated the Notre Dame Fighting Irish Sunday afternoon on the road.
Pitt absolutely dominated the first set, earning leads of 10-3, 16-5, 19-10 and finishing it off, 25-13. Pitt held Virginia to .000 hitting percentage in that first set.
The Panthers fell behind the Cavaliers to start the second set, but used an 8-0 run, with graduate student middle blocker Chiamaka Nwokolo serving, getting two service aces herself, to take an 11-5 lead. The Panthers would eventually win the set with a similar 25-13 victory.
Virginia came out the better of the two teams to begin the third set, taking leads of 7-3 and 11-7 early on. Pitt would tie the set at 11, but both teams still found each other level at 17-17 later on. Virginia eventually faltered, as Pitt scored eight of the final 12 points to win the set, 25-21 and the match too.
“I thought we were pretty good the first two sets defensively and I thought we slipped a little bit,” Pitt head coach Dan Fisher said. “I just thought we lost a little sense of urgency in the third set, but I was pleased with the way we finished.”
Nwokolo led the Panthers with 10 kills in the victory over the Cavaliers, tying her season-high, as she also had 10 kills against then ranked No. 11 Georgia Tech on Oct. 6 at home. She also hit .600, which also led the Panthers, and is her highest percentage of the season with at least 15 attacks.
Nwokolo said that Pitt still has a lot of room for improvement when it comes to their defensive intensity, but she was happy to come away with the win and attributes that to the grittiness off her and her teammates.
“I just would say that we have a lot of fight in us,” Nwokolo said on the resilience of Pitt volleyball. “We know we’re better than being down that early in games like this so, we just find a way to string together good defensive plays, offensive plays. Just keep trying to fight to string together good plays in a row.”
Fisher complimented Nwokolo on her performance in the win, especially on her serving, which he saw great improvements in practice recently.
“She’s been working on it, basically for five years and it’s been looking better in practice,” Fisher said. “So we gave her a chance tonight and I thought she killed it.”
Panthers first-year outside hitter Torrey Stafford suffered an injury in the second set, when she collided with a teammate and appeared to roll her ankle. She did come back to the bench, with her right ankle tapped up, quelling concerns of the seriousness of the injury for the present time.
Junior outside hitter Julianna Dalton, who started almost every match last season, came in her place and played most of the remainder of the match.
Fisher said that despite going down, Stafford was in “good spirits” after the match. He is staying optimistic, especially since she was able to walk, and that they’ll determine her status going forward in the week.
Pitt volleyball will face NC State on the road Friday night, as they look to become the first team to win in Raleigh this season.
