PITTSBURGH — No. 1 Pitt Volleyball dominated No. 4 Washington State in a sweep in the Sweet 16 Thursday afternoon at Fitzgerald Field House, to ensure a fourth straight appearance in the Elite Eight.
The Panthers (28-4) win their eighth straight overall game and 15th straight game at home. This is their second victory over the Cougars (26-8), as they won in four sets back in 2021 and is the second straight victory over a Pac-12 team, as they defeated No. 8 USC in four sets last Saturday in the Second Round of the NCAA Tournament. The victory also keeps the Panthers undefeated in the Sweet 16 and is their second sweep in the round, doing so against Kansas at home in 2021.
Both teams battled back and forth throughout the first set, with ties at. 5-5. 10-10 and 14-14. Pitt then used a 6-2 scoring run, with redshirt senior outside hitter Valeria Vazquez Gomez making a kill and two blocks, to build a 20-16 lead.
The Cougars responded, cutting the lead to 21-20, with three kills from three different players in fifth year middle blocker Magda Jehlárová, graduate student outside hitter Iman Isanovic and junior opposite side hitter Katy Ryan.
A big kill from first-year outside hitter Torrey Stafford ended Washington State’s run and allowed senior outside hitter and serve specialist Cat Flood to take control. Flood would have two service aces and along with a Stafford kill, to give Pitt a 25-20 set victory.
First-year right side hitter Olivia Babcock led Pitt with six kills in the first set, while graduate student middle blockers Emma Monks and Chiamaka Nwokolo had three kills each.
The Panthers had a great start to the second set, taking an 8-1 lead. Babcock had a solo block, block assist with Monks, and then back-t0-back kills to lead her team on the run. Monks would provide two more blocks, while Stafford made a kill and a block on the run.
Washington State did score three straight points to end the scoring run, but Pitt responded with three straight points to increase their advantage to 11-4. Pitt then increased their lead to double-digits, 15-5, 17-7, 21-11 and eventually finished the second set off with a 25-13 dominating victory.
The Panthers hit an incredible .591 in the second set and held the Cougars to .071 hitting themselves. Babcock continued to star for Pitt with two service aces, four kills and one block.
Pitt volleyball began the third set like they did the second, with great play and a big lead, 8-2. They forced three attack errors from Washington State and Babcock got her third service ace and a block.
The Cougars did score four straight points, but the Panthers would score four of the next five points to build a 13-7 lead, with two kills from Stafford. The Cougars then scored three of the next four points, with back-t0-back service aces from fifth year outside hitter Pia Timmer, but the Panthers scored three straight points themselves to increase their advantage to 17-11 lead.
Babcock continued to excel at the net, with back-t0-back kills and then a solo block from Stafford gave Pitt a 20-12 lead. Babcock also got her fourth service ace, tying a program record for the most service aces in an NCAA Tournament match.
Nwokolo made a kill and then Vazquez Gomez made the final two to win the set, 25-16, and send Pitt into the Elite Eight.
Pitt hit .425 against Washington State, a program best in an NCAA Tournament match, while also holding Washington State to .141, making it five straight matches holding an opponent below .200 hitting.
Panthers head coach Dan Fisher gave credit to his players for pushing through in that first set as well as their defensive performances and quick starts in the second and third set for the quick sweep.
“I thought we won the serve-pass, so we were in system more,” Fisher said. “I thought, as usual, Rachel [Fairbanks] was making good choices and our both middles hit really efficiently and I thought Olivia [Babcock] was unstoppable.”
Babcock finished with a team-high 15 kills and four service aces, tied for first with five total blocks and hit .500. Her four service aces tied her for the most in a Pitt NCAA Tournament match, along with former outside hitter Kayla Lund (2017-21) against Kansas in 2021 and former setter Kamalani Akeo (2015-18) against VCU in the First Round in 2017.
Monks and Nwokolo both excelled at the net against the Cougars, both hitting 556. Monks finished with five blocks, tied for first with Babcock, and made seven kills, while Nwokolo made is kills and four total blocks.
Coming from Michigan State in the summer, Monks is playing in her first NCAA Tournament. This is her second game with five or more blocks, as she had eight in the win over No. 8 USC in the Second Round last Saturday, second most for a Pitt player in an NCAA Tournament match.
“It’s been really exciting, it’s been a lot of fun,” Monks said. “First tournament and sadly last tournament, but hopefully we can continue to make some more memories.”
Stafford finished with 10 kills, second best, making it three straight games with double digit kills, all in the NCAA Tournament.
Junior setter Rachel Fairbanks led with 31 assists, while fellow junior libero/defensive specialist Emmy Klika led with eight digs.
Babcock credited Fairbanks for giving her the opportunity to have a great game and pointed to their growing relationship over the season for the performance.
“She’s very, very important, so I give all my credit to her,” Babcock said. “We’re roommates, so we talked about this game a lot and we have a lot of jokes about our connection being built, and I actually think it was built because I feel like we went into this game, really like trusting. There was no missed connections, no times where I was like, ‘Can you do this, or this,’ and no times where she had to tell me had to do anything different. I feel like we both were just really locked in and I feel like we both trusted each other and that really helped.”
Pitt volleyball will take on No. 2 Louisville in the Elite Eight on Saturday at Fitzgerald Field House. This meeting will serve as the third this season, with both teams winning at home, and sixth in the past two seasons, with Louisville defeating Pitt in five sets in last season’s Final Four.
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