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Pitt Volleyball

Pitt VB Star Olivia Babcock Earns National Player of the Week

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Pitt volleyball star Olivia Babcock.

Pitt volleyball has been the most dominant team in college volleyball season, to the tune of a 17-1 record and No. 1 ranking in the country, and Olivia Babcock has been a big reason why.

Babcock — a 6-foot-4 sophomore outside hitter from Los Angeles, Cal. — was the AVCA National Freshman of the Year last season and has hit the ground running this season.

She earned AVCA National Player of the Week as Pitt swept Cal and No. 5 Stanford — bouncing back from a season-first loss to No. 15 SMU.

“I think I took it as more important for the team to bounce back, so the entire time I was just thinking about how I could contribute to the team,” Babcock said after the Cal win. “And obviously leading up to this, me and Rachel had worked on our connection a lot. And we also prioritized out of system setting, so I feel like that was really clicking today.”

Babcock hit .452 against Cal and Stanford, averaging 5.5 kills per set and seven points per set. She hit a season-high .577 against Cal, adding 16 kills and two aces. And she recorded a match-high 17 kills, six blocks and six digs against Stanford.

Babcock is hitting .313 this season, which is just outside the top 10 in the ACC. Her 315 total points this season (5.83 per set) lead the conference, despite playing in just 54 sets this season. Her 0.78 aces/set and 4.39 kills/set also lead the conference.

Pitt is the best volleyball team in the country, led by Olivia Babcock, outside hitter Torrey Stafford, setter Rachel Fairbanks, libero Emmy Klika and outside hitter Valeria Vazquez Gomez.

Pitt is set to host No. 4 Louisville on Friday night at the Petersen Events Center (with over 8,000 tickets sold as of Tuesday morning) in the latest of a series that has determined the top team in the ACC in recent seasons.

Sandy Schall, Coldwell Banker
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