Pitt volleyball, ranked No. 1 in the country, continues to roll.
After dropping their first set of the season last week, the Panthers put any doubts about their dominance away with a sweep against No. 15 SMU on Wednesday at Fitzgerald Field House.
Other than a close start in the first and second sets, Pitt didn’t really have any issues against the Mustangs (12-4, 4-1 ACC) finishing with 3-0 (25-17, 25-18, 25-9) seep.
The Panthers (15-0, 5-0) finished with a .427 hitting percentage with all but two players hitting better than .300. Olivia Babcock and Torrey Stafford had double-digit kills, finishing with a combined 31 kills — there were 44 total for Pitt.
Defensively, Pitt limited every single SMU player from having more than just six kills. Naya Shime had six. Natalie Foster and Maya Tabron were next with five.
“I know it looked easy at the end,” Pitt coach Dan Fisher said. “It was because they gave us a lot to deal with defensively, and they serve really tough. I'm looking forward to a good game on Saturday and a tough atmosphere.”
Star player
Babcock left fans speechless after her performance against the Mustangs, specifically during her 6-0 service run in the third set that included four aces. People were still bowing to her when her run came to an end after a service error.
She wasn’t just dominant from the service line, however. Babcock finished with a team-high 18 kills with an insane .571 hitting percentage — her highest of the season. For reference, her second highest of the season was against unranked East Carolina at .552. She had 12 of her kills in the second set alone.
The sophomore outside hitter was also just three digs away from a double-double and she added three blocks.
“The crowd just thinks it's like, this most amazing thing ever,” Pitt setter Rachel Fairbanks said. “So it’s funny that Liv comes in and she's like, ‘Oh, that wasn't a good one.’ She just got three aces in a row. She's like, ‘Oh, I need to be better.’ She works hard with her serve. She's always like in practice, trying to treat her serve like she would in a game. It's paying off.”
Top moment
Early in the first set, it seemed like the match was going to be a long one. Both teams traded points with the first two-point lead not coming until Tabron had a service ace to go up 4-2. Jamison Wheeler later had a kill to take a 8-6 lead for the Mustangs, but after that it was all Pitt.
The Panthers went on an 8-0 scoring run, seven of those points came with Fairbanks at the service line. Valeria Vazquez Gomez accounted for three of those points with a pair of kills and a solo block on Celia Cullen. Shime helped Pitt out by committing two errors. The run resulted in the Panthers taking a 14-8 lead and SMU would only get within four points before Pitt took the first set.
“I feel like at the beginning of the sets, we tended to struggle a little bit in each and every set,” Babcock said. “This just sheds light on the fact that we can start off a little stronger, so then we can shut them out even more at the end.”
Key stat
Pitt’s defense continued to be stifling as it has now held all but one of its five ranked opponents to hitting less than .200. SMU was held to just .109, which is its lowest mark of the season.
The Panthers also did a fantastic job at shutting down the Mustang’s pin hitters in Wheeler, Tabron and Shime. Shime leads the team with a .309 hitting %, but hit zero. Tabron and Wheeler came into the game hitting .254, but only hit zero and .150 respectively.
“We had a lot going well for us defensively,” Fisher said. “It seems simple, but we were able to get them off the net. We put up a wall. Our pins set the block up well, and our middles were really solid right next to them.”
Big picture
Fisher’s squad is now 5-0 against ranked opponents, with wins against Oregon, Southern Cal, Penn State, Georgia Tech and now SMU. The Mustangs are the only team to hand No. 2 Nebraska a loss this season and the Huskers were swept in Texas. Yet, Pitt had no issue against SMU — proving their dominance once again.
“Obviously, it's amazing, and we're grateful,” Fairbanks said. “But we aren't going into games being like, ‘Oh, we haven't lost the game. We can't lose this one.’ It's more like we treat every game as its own game. Then we treat every point like it's the most important point ever.”
Quotable
Vazquez Gomez was flying around the court. She led the team with 14 digs and was the only player to have more than seven. She also added six kills, three of which came in the first set alone.
Her efforts from the service line gave Pitt a boost as she had three service aces. Vazquez Gomez pulled out an assist, too, when she set the ball to Fairbanks for the kill.
“Her defense was such a game changer,” Babcock said. “I feel like it just motivated everyone else to like to play even better and do more. Because it's like, ‘Oh, Valeria is getting everything up.’ That's when we really started making a lot of big plays.”
Up next
Pitt heads to Dallas to finish out the home-and-home series with SMU on Saturday. It’s the first time since the COVID-19 season the Panthers have played the same opponent twice in one week.
“I always liked the challenge of, just what adjustments are they going to make going into the next game,” Fisher said. “It's a mini game of chess that I think is good. There's just an emotional challenge of getting up again to play the same team. But I’m expecting a tough environment there.”
First Published: October 10, 2024, 1:57 a.m.
Updated: October 10, 2024, 2:00 a.m.
