No. 1 Pitt Volleyball Defeats Rival No. 4 Louisville

No. 1 Pitt Panthers volleyball defeated rival No. 4 Louisville at home.

Pitt Volleyball Celebrates A Point / Courtesy of Pitt Athletics

PITTSBURGH -- No. 1 Pitt Panthers volleyball outlasted rival No. 4 Louisville in five sets in front of a raucous crowd at the Petersen Events Center.

The Panthers (18-1 overall, 8-1 ACC) defeat the Cardinals (16-3 overall, 8-1 ACC) for the third straight time, reverse sweeping them at home twice in 2023, in the regular season and in the Elite Eight. This is the first time they've won three straight matches against the Cardinals, since they won four from October 2018-October 2020.

This also gives the Panthers the tie-breaker at the top of the ACC, with both teams at the same record.

Pitt would take leads of 9-3 and 15-8 in the first set, forcing Louisville to take both of their timeouts. Louisville would try and comeback, but Pitt would hold on and take the first set, 25-21.

Sophomore right side hitter Olivia Babcock led with the Panthers with seven kills and a .455 hitting percentage, while fellow sophomore in outside hitter Torrey Stafford led with eight digs.

Louisville took control of the second set early, with 9-3 and 12-5 leads forcing Pitt head coach Dan Fisher to burn both of his timeouts. Graduate student outside hitter Anna DeBeer had four kills early to lead Louisville, while fellow outside hitter Charitie Luper went on a 5-0 service run.

Fisher chose to incorporate a 6-2 rotation, with senior Nisa Buzlutepe coming in for senior Rachel Fairbanks at setter and sophomore outside hitter Blaire Bayless came in for Babcock.

The change gave the two starters a break and allowed Buzlutepe and Bayless to give the Panthers some momentum.

Pitt cut into the lead to as low as four points, but Louisville used back-to-back kills to take a 19-13 lead.

The Panthers would then go on an incredible 7-1 run to tie the set up at 20-20. Sixth year outside hitter Valeria Vazquez Gomez made two kills and a block on the run.

Louisville took a 23-21 lead, but Pitt redshirt junior middle blocker Bre Kelley would make a kill and two Louisville attack errors gave them set point at 24-23.

The Cardinals broke that set point and would have three set points before they eventually fended off Pitt for the 28-26 set victory, tying the match at 1-1.

Pitt opened the third set with a 5-2 lead, but Louisville kept it close at 14-13. Pitt would use a 5-1 run to burn both of Louisville's timeouts up 19-14.

Fisher would call a timeout himself after the Cardinals made two kills to cut the lead to three, giving his Panthers the chance to win the set on a 6-1 run, 25-17.

DeBeer had two attack errors, then Kelley had a kill and a solo block and Vazquez Gomez added a kill and a service ace to clinch the set. Pitt outhit Louisville, .433 to .182 in the third set.

Pitt led 8-6 early on in the fourth set, but Louisville would battle back, taking a 13-11 lead, forcing a timeout.

The Cardinals extended their lead to 16-13, but the Panthers battled back to tie it up at 16, forcing a Cardinals' timeout.

Louisville would retake the lead quickly, 19-16 and then extended it to 22-18, forcing Fisher to take Pitt's last timeout. DeBeer made a kill and a solo block, while Luper added two kills.

The Panthers went on a 4-1 run, cutting the lead to 23-22, with two kills each from Babcock and Stafford. The Cardinals would still take the fourth set, thanks to a kill each from Luper and DeBeer.

Pitt came out with a 5-2 lead in the fifth set, as they took advantage of two attack errors and a service error from Louisville, with the road team taking a timeout.

The Cardinals played better out of the timeout, with DeBeer making two kills, but the Panthers held the lead at 8-6, switching sides of the court.

Louisville redshirt junior middle blocker Cara Cresse made a kill, but Babcock would respond with one of her own and an attack error on Louisville led to another timeout, with Pitt up 10-7.

Luper made a kill, but a service error from senior libero/defensive specialist Elena Scott kept Pitt up 11-8.

Babcock made a kill to increase the Panthers' lead to 12-8 lead, but graduate student middle blokcer Phekran Kong made a kill herself to cut it back to 12-9.

Louisville had another service error, but would win a long rally and DeBeer made a kill and a block to make it 13-12.

Bayless made a kill and then a net ball violation on the end on the Cardinals gave the Panthers the victory.

Pitt will host Notre Dame on Oct. 27 with a 1:00 p.m. start at Fitzgerald Field House.

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