PITTSBURGH — Pitt volleyball hosted a record 8,856 fans at the Petersen Events Center Saturday afternoon for their match against No. 4 Louisville. They fell down two sets early, but managed to reverse sweep their rival to win in five sets.
The Panthers (23-4 overall, 15-2 ACC) win their second reverse sweep of the season, as they took down the No. 11 Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets on Oct. 6. This is the third reverse sweep under head coach Dan Fisher, with the last coming in 2013, his first season at the helm. This is also the second straight season with a victory at home over the Cardinals (23-4, 14-3 ACC) and ends a three-match losing streak to them, as they also lost in the Final Four last season and twice in Louisville.
Both teams battled back and forth through the midway part of the first set, but a 6-1 run from Louisville gave them a 17-13 lead. Despite two timeouts from Fisher, Louisville continued to dominate, leading to a 25-19 set victory.
Senior outside hitter Anna DeBeer had nine kills on 11 attacks for a .818 hitting percentage, with five of those kills coming on that 6-1 run. Louisville also out hit Pitt .462 to .316 also held Pitt to one block.
The Panthers came out far better in the second set, taking a 7-2 lead, with some great serving from senior outside hitter and serve specialist Cat Flood. The Cardinals would respond, thanks to some good serving from graduate setter and serve specialist Brigitta Petrenko, to cut the deficit to 9-7.
Pitt volleyball then increased their lead to 15-11 at the media timeout, thanks to three kills from first-year right side hitter Olivia Babcock. Both teams then traded points to 23-19, with Pitt looking to take their first set.
Louisville would score two points to force a Pitt timeout, but a sneaky kill from junior setter Rachel Fairbanks gave them a 24-21 lead and set point. DeBeer saved Louisville once again, with two kills to tie the set at 24. An attack error from Babcock gave them the lead and then senior middle blocker Phekran Kong made a solo block to come back and win the second set, 26-24.
The third set saw the Panthers jump out to a 5-2 lead, before the Cardinals took the lead off a 8-4 run, 10-9. The Cardinals would hold leads of 13-11 and 14-12, but the Panthers made some important kills and Cat Flood’s serving got them back up 15-14.
Both teams then traded points, with Louisville taking a 16-15 lead, then Pitt going up 17-16, then Louisville back up 18-17, Pitt going back up 20-19, then Louisville once again at 21-20.
The Panthers once again took the lead, thanks to a kill from graduate student middle blocker Chiamaka Nwokolo and an attack error from Cardinals junior outside hitter Charitie Luper, but Luper made a kill to tie it up at 23. Cardinals graduate student opposite side hitter Aiko Jones made a service error for set point, but made up for it with a kill to make it level at 24.
Pitt would win the third set, with a kill from first-year outside hitter Torrey Stafford and an attack error from DeBeer, 26-24.
The Panthers started out the fourth set like the third, with a 5-2 lead, as Stafford made two kills and a block assist. The Cardinals then took the lead, 10-8, with an 8-3 run, thanks to DeBeer making five kills.
Despite falling behind, Pitt would score six straight points to take a 14-10 lead, with two kills from redshirt senior outside hitter Valeria Vazquez Gomez and two attack errors from Luper.
The Cardinals responded with a 5-2 run to cut their deficit to 16-15, but the Panthers stayed in the lead with a kill from Stafford and a service ace by Flood.
Louisville then made two uncharacteristic service errors, with Luper and Petrenko making the mistakes, to give Pitt a 20-17 lead.
Pitt would face a challenge from Louisville, who scored four of the next six points to cut the lead to 22-21. Graduate student middle blocker Emma Monks came up big for Pitt, as she made a block with Babcock, then Stafford made a kill for set point and she would finish off the fourth set with a solo block to win it 25-21.
A kill from Babcock gave the Panthers the lead to start the fifth set, but the Cardinals got on top with a kill and a block from redshirt middle blocker Cara Cresse. Both teams would trade points, but DeBeer made four straight kills to take an 8-4 lead before the teams switched sides of the court.
The two sides traded points and then Pitt scored four consecutive points, with back-to-back kills from Babcock to tie it at 10. Jones made a kill to give the lead back to Louisville, but Vazquez Gomez got a kill herself to tie it at 11. Luper made a kill, then made a service error to tie it back up at 12. Cresse made a kill, but then Babcock responded to level it at 13.
DeBeer made another kill to put Louisville up 14-13 at match point, but Stafford saved Pitt with a kill. DeBeer made an attack error to give Pitt volleyball match point, but Jones tied it up at 15 with a kill of her own.
The Panthers would defeat the Cardinals with two attack errors from Luper and DeBeer, as they won the fifth set, 17-15.
Pitt volleyball will face Miami in their regular season home finale on Wednesday at the Fitzgerald Field House. They defeated Miami in four sets back on Sunday, Nov. 5 in Coral Gables, Fla.
