Inside The Panthers

No. 1 Pitt Volleyball Sweeps No. 5 Stanford

No. 1 Pitt Panthers volleyball dominated No. 5 Stanford in a straight sweep.

Dominic Campbell

No. 1 Pitt Volleyball celebrates a service ace from outside hitter Valeria Vazquez Gomez in the sweep of No. 15 SMU
No. 1 Pitt Volleyball celebrates a service ace from outside hitter Valeria Vazquez Gomez in the sweep of No. 15 SMU / Courtesy of Pitt Athletic

PITTSBURGH -- No. 1 Pitt Panthers volleyball dominated No. 5 Stanford in a straight sweep in front of a sold-out Fitzgerald Field House Sunday afternoon.

The Panthers (17-1 overall, 7-1 ACC) get back-to-back wins this weekend, as they also swept the Cal Golden Bears. This is also their first win ever over the Cardinal (14-3 overall, 6-2 ACC), losing their previous four matchups, all coming 1994 and prior.

This is also the sixth ranked win for Pitt this season, all sweeps, and third at home, along with then No. 15 SMU on Oct. 9 and against No. 3 Penn State on Sept. 18 in front of a program record crowd at the Petersen Events Center of 11,800 fans.

They also got three road ranked wins against then ranked No. 10 Oregon in the season opener on Aug. 30, then ranked No. 23 USC on Sept. 11 and then ranked No. 13 Georgia Tech on Sept. 29.

The Panthers used a 4-0 run to build a 6-2 lead to start the first set and increased it to 11-5, forcing Cardinal head coach Kevin Hambly to call a timeout. Sophomore outside hitter Torrey Stafford made two kills and a block, while freshman middle blocker Ryla Jones added two.

Stanford would cut the lead to 14-11, forcing a timeout from Pitt head coach Dan Fisher, but Stafford had three straight kills for Pitt, keeping them up 17-12.

The Panthers eventually broke away from the Cardinal, using a 5-1 run from 20-16 to win the first set 25-17. Redshirt senior middle blocker Bre Kelley made a kill and block during the run to put the Panthers up 1-0.

Pitt broke a 4-4 deadlock with a 3-0 run to make it 7-4 and then a 6-3 run to increase their lead to 13-7, burning both of Stanford's timeouts early in the second set. Pitt would raise that advantage to 20-10 and held on for the 25-16 set victory.

Sophomore right side hitter Olivia Babcock led with five kills and four blocsk in the second set, while also adding a service ace. Kelley also had three blocks and combining for two with Babcock.

The Cardinal took an early 3-2 lead, but a 5-1 scoring run from the Panthers forced an early timeout. They kept the deficit around four, but a 3-0 run from the Panthers made it 14-8 and the Cardinal took their last timeout.

Stanford would battle back, using a 4-1 run, including back-to-back kills from senior middle blocker Sami Francis to cut the lead to 15-12, leading to a Pitt timeout.

Fisher won a big challegne, his second of the game, keepign Pitt up 18-14 and three straight kills, two from Babcock, put Pitt up 21-15. Pitt would eventually win the third set, thanks to kills from Kelley, Stafford and Babcock, 25-20.

Pitt will stay at home next weekend, hosting their biggest rival in No. 4 Louisville at the Petersen Events Center on Oct. 25.

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Dominic Campbell
DOMINIC CAMPBELL

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