Inside The Panthers

No. 1 Pitt Volleyball Earns Three ACC Honors

Pitt Panthers volleyball earned three ACC weekly honors for their play.

Dominic Campbell

Pitt Volleyball Celebrates Point Against Penn State
Pitt Volleyball Celebrates Point Against Penn State / Courtesy of Pitt Athletics

PITTSBURGH -- No. 1 Pitt Panthers volleyball swept both Cal and No. 5 Stanford this past weekend, which garnered recognition from the ACC.

The ACC named three Panthers on their Team of the Week, which has just four players make it. They named sophomore right side hitter Olivia Babcock as ACC Offensive Player of the Week, redshirt middle blocker Bre Kelley as ACC Defensive Player of the Week and senior Rachel Fairbanks as ACC Setter of the Week.

This is the second time Babcock has won ACC Offensive Player of the Week this season, first time for Kelley winning ACC Defensive Player of the Week and second time this season and sixth time in her career for Fairbanks winning ACC Setter of the Week.

Babcock led with 16 kills. hit .577, while also adding five total blocks, two service aces and two digs against Cal. She also led with 17 kills, hit .361, along with six total blocks, six digs and a service ace vs. Stanford. She averaged 7.0 points per set, 5.5 kills per set, 1.83 blocks per set and 1.33 digs per set for the week.

She leads the ACC with 4.39 kills per set, 5.83 points per set and 0.78 service aces per set, while ranking second and third in Division I with aces per set and points per set, respectively. She also ranks No. 9 in the ACC with 1.24 blocks per game, as she is in clearly in conversation for National Player of the Year.

Kelley had five total blocks vs. Cal, while also making six kills and hitting .455, and then had seven total blocks vs. Stanford, and added four kills on .444 hitting. She finished the week averaging 2.00 blocks per set, 1.67 kills per set and hitting .450.

Her seven blocks tied a season-high for her in a three-set match and she helped hold the Cardinal to .090 hitting. She also helped the Panthers hold the Golden Bears to -.048 hitting, their lowest mark of the season and third time they've held an opponent to a negative hitting percentage, all in the ACC.

It is also the lowest hitting percentage for a Panthers' opponent since they held Coppin State to -.099 in the First Round of the 2023 NCAA Tournament.

Kelley ranks third in the ACC and eighth in Division I with 1.50 blocks per set, which has allowed Pitt to rank tied for No. 7 in the country with 2.91 blocks per set and No. 1 with an opponent hitting percentage of .099.

Fairbanks had an impressive weekend herself, finishing with 28 assists, six digs, one kill, two total blocks and a season-high five service aces vs. Cal. She also had 35 assists against Stanford, was just shy of a double-double with nine digs, plus two total blocks and one service ace.

She led Pitt to a .430 hitting percentage vs. Cal, the highest they've given up this season, and .314 against Stanford, the second highest they've allowed in 2024. She also averaged 7.0 points per set, 5.5 kills per set, 1.83 blocks per set and 1.33 digs per set for the week.

Fairbanks leads the ACC and ranks No. 19 in Division I with 10.52 assists per set and is a big reason why Pitt leads the nation as a team with a .346 hitting percentage.

Pitt faces No. 4 Louisville this weekend for another top five matchup at the Petersen Events Center hosting it on Oct. 25 with a 7:00 p.m. start.

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Dominic Campbell
DOMINIC CAMPBELL

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