Pitt and Louisville battled it out last Saturday in a top 10 matchup in front of a record crowd at the Petersen Events Center, who saw their hometown team make a reverse sweep and stay in first place of ACC Volleyball.
The match had everything you could want to see as a volleyball fan. A fierce rivalry, some of the best players in the country, a raucous atmosphere, tense moments throughout, close calls and two of the best teams in the country battling for a conference title.
Pitt fans will obviously remember this match more fondly than Louisville fans, but both sets of supporters and volleyball fans across the country can’t deny the greatness on display and how important this rivalry is to the sport as a whole.
Despite the love that this match might get, many volleyball fans and national media disregard ACC volleyball as a top conference. Some reasons include either only having a few competitors or not having a strong enough conference overall compared to the other Power 5 conferences.
The Big Ten and Pac-12 generally take the top two places for the best volleyball conferences in Division I. Wisconsin and Nebraska are two of the best volleyball programs and the Big Ten generally has other great programs too, while the Pac-12 has Stanford, Oregon and others who make it the best conference from top to bottom, with the highest average ranking RPI per team.
While it’s understandable that people see those two as the best volleyball conferences, the ACC deserves more credit for its members’ play this season.
Once again, No.3 Pitt and No. 7 Louisville feature as two of the best teams in the country, with the match on Saturday demonstrating it once again. No. 19 Georgia Tech is also solid too and managed to take a win off of Louisville at home earlier in November, but they aren’t the only schools who have solid volleyball teams.
Florida State is No. 23 in the latest AVCA poll, No. 26 in RPI, has a 22-8 overall record and leads ACC volleyball with a 15-2 record. They defeated Pitt at home in early November and if they win Saturday at home against Notre Dame, they’ll host their fifth conference title in program history.
Miami is also on the rise, sweeping Georgia Tech twice this season and pushed Pitt to four sets the last time they faced earlier this month. NC State, Duke, Wake Forest and even Clemson are all programs in the top 70 RPI and while all might not make the NCAA Tournament this season but have shown improvement this season.
The Pac-12 also won’t exist as it currently is next season, with all but two programs in Washington State and Oregon State leaving for different conferences. The ACC will land Stanford and Cal, the Big Ten is taking Washington, Oregon, UCLA and USC and the Big 12 is adding Arizona, Arizona State, Colorado and Utah.
The additions of one of the best programs in Stanford, a solid team in Cal and then the American champions in SMU as well for next season will make ACC volleyball one of the best, if not the best conference in the country, something that both head coaches pointed to following the Pitt-Louisville match.
“What I’ll say about the ACC is, all of the top teams return virtually all of their starting lineups and we’re adding Stanford, Cal and SMU,” Pitt head coach Dan Fisher said about the future of ACC volleyball. “So I truly believe next year we’re going to be the strongest volleyball conference and we’re close to it right now. So, what does that mean? That means that we’re well prepared when we go into the tournament.”
“It’s good,” Louisville head coach Dani Busboom Kelly added . “ACC volleyball is becoming a powerhouse conference and when you three great programs is going to get better and better and better.”
The only thing that the ACC is lacking right now compared to other is a National Champion, but both Pitt and Louisville have made the past two Final Fours, with Louisville making the NCAA Title game last season.
Still, ACC volleyball is improving consistently and deserves far more respect than it has received so far. Volleyball fans around the country, the national media and the NCAA Tournament Selection Committee need to start appreciating the conference and its growth going forward.
Good Luck in both tournaments. Well deserved article on these hard working girls
Heck, Nationally? We didn’t even make the LOCAL television news or printed news last Saturday/Sunday despite it being a highly ranked game and a fill the Pete promotion.
This article states what I type on NCAA social media all of the time. It is shown by the media, coaches poll and responses by fans from other conferences. I do feel that the NCAA selection committee has been doing better with respecting the top teams in the acc (Pitt, Louisville and gt….but not Pitt’s awful seed last year and being forced to play byu, Florida followed by Wisconsin away…..byu should have been a sweet 16 team……Florida elite 8 and wisconsin final 4…..of course pitt should have been at home like the previous year…..instead of overrated Stanford…..pac 12 and big… Read more »