PITTSBURGH — No. 1 Pitt Volleyball faced rival No. 2 Louisville in the Elite Eight Saturday afternoon in front of a sold-out Fitzgerald Field House and despite falling behind two sets early, they won the final three sets to get the reverse sweep.
The Panthers (29-4) make it three straight Final Fours with the win over the Cardinals (27-5). This is also their second reverse sweep of the Cardinals this season, doing so at the Petersen Events Center on Nov. 18. It makes it 17 straight victories at home in their final match at home and is their first win over the Cardinals in the NCAA Tournament, after losing to them last year in the Final Four.
Louisville came out the better of the two teams in the first set, breaking a 4-4 deadlock and using a 7-2 scoring run to take an 11-6 lead, forcing Pitt head coach Dan Fisher to take a timeout.
The Panthers played better out of the timeout, cutting the lead to three on a few occasions, but the Cardinals kept up their solid play as well to stay in the lead at 19-14, leading to another timeout for Fisher.
Pitt then scored four of the next six points out of the their second timeout, with redshirt senior outside hitter Valeria Vazquez Gomez making a kill and a service ace back-t0-back to cut the Louisville lead to 21-19, forcing them to take their first timeout.
First-year right side Olivia Babcock made two kills, but also her second service error of the match to give set point to Louisville at 24-22. Louisville senior libero/defensive specialist and serve specialist Ayden Bartlett then made a service error to get Pitt within two, but senior outside hitter Anna DeBeer made the final kill to give Louisville the first set, 25-23.
The Cardinals outhit the Panthers .333 to .265, in the first set, with graduate student opposite side hitter Aiko Jones getting five kills on five attacks and senior middle blocker Phekran Kong making three kills on three attacks, for the duo to have perfect hitting percentages.
Pitt started out with a 3-1 lead, thanks to a kill and a service ace from Vazquez Gomez, but Louisville came back and established an 11-8 advantage themselves. DeBeer led with two kills, while Kong and Jones both provided one each themselves.
The Panthers did go on a scoring run themselves, outscoring the Cardinals 6-2 to get a 14-13 lead, with first-year outside hitter Torrey Stafford making two kills.
The Cardinals then used a kill from redshirt sophomore middle blocker Cara Cresse and a service ace from junior outside hitter Charitie Luper to retake the lead, 15-14, at the media timeout.
Babcock made two kills, but DeBeer would match her with back-t0-back kills of her own to give Louisville a 19-16 lead and force Fisher to call a timeout. Kong then made a kill and an attack error from Vazquez Gomez increased Louisville’s lead to 21-17 and for Fisher to call his final timeout.
Jones and Kong made a block, while junior libero/defensive specialist Elena Scott made back-t0-back service aces to make it set point. DeBeer would again win the set with a kill, 25-20 to put the Cardinals up two sets.
Louisville outhit Pitt once again in that second set, .300 to .182, while also making more blocks, 3-2.
The Cardinals took leads of 7-5 and 9-7 in the third set, looking to take the sweep. The Panthers would battle back, scoring five straight points to earn a 12-7 advantage, with Babcock making a kill and a block on the run. Babcock make would make another kill, along with middle blocker Chiamaka Nwokolo to take a 15-12 lead at the media timeout.
Pitt kept up the good play, staying in-system and making better digs to keep themselves in rallies. Babcock made two more kills and graduate student middle blocker Emma Monks made a block and a kill to increase the lead to 20-15 and force a Louisville timeout. Back-to-back kills for Stafford forced a final timeout for Louisville at 22-15. Pitt volleyball would win the set 25-16, thanks to a kill from Monks and Stafford and service ace from senior outside hitter and serve specialist Cat Flood.
The Panthers dominated in the third set, outhitting the Cardinals .560 to .200, out-digging them 11-6 and out-blocking them 3-2.
Louisville started out with a 4-2 lead, with three kills from Luper, but her service error put Babcock back on the line.
Babcock had struggled prior on the service line with five service errors, but would have one of the best service runs of the season. Her powerful top-spin serve made it difficult for Louisville to contain, leading to three service aces and a 5-0 scoring run for Pitt to give them an 8-4 lead.
The Cardinals tried to comeback, scoring five of the next eight points to cut the Panthers lead to 11-9, with Kong making two kills and two blocks. The Panthers reestablished their lead with two blocks from Monks and Babcock to lead 15-9.
Pitt Volleyball would continue to increase their lead, 17-11, 19-12, 22-14 and would hold off Louisville for the 25-19 set victory to send the match to five sets. Louisville committed six service errors in that fourth set.
The Panthers took a 4-1 lead to start the fifth set, with two kills from Babcock. Flood came in the match and had a service ace of her own to build a 7-1 lead. The Panthers continued to dominate in the fifth set, building leads of 10-3, 14-4 and then winning the set 15-7.
Pitt volleyball will face No. 1 Nebraska in the Final Four, 7 p.m. Thursday, Dec. 14 in Tampa, Fla.
Keep fighting hard
Let’s f#$%ingredients go!
Not much of a fan or have interest in the sport but making 3 straight Final Fours is a tremendous accomplishment….congrats to them!!!
Remarkable effort by players, coaches… and the fans! … Those that were there and those that cheered from afar.
These girls are talented and play the game with exciting enthusiasm and constant effort, let’s win it all this year ladies !!!!! LETS GO PITT !