Inside The Panthers

No. 1 Pitt Volleyball Sweeps Wake Forest

No. 1 Pitt Panthers volleyball swept Wake Forest on the road.

Dominic Campbell

Pitt Volleyball Celebrates Scoring a Point
Pitt Volleyball Celebrates Scoring a Point / Courtesy of Pitt Athletics

PITTSBURGH -- No. 1 Pitt Panthers volleyball extended their lengthy winning streak with a sweep of Wake Forest on the road.

The Panthers (26-1 overall, 16-1 ACC) win their 11th straight match, dating back to Oct. 18, a month long winning streak. It also improves the Panthers to 13-1 all-time vs. the Demon Deacons (13-15 overall, 5-12 ACC) and 6-1 in Winston-Salem, N.C.

Pitt would choose to rest senior setter Rachel Fairbanks vs. Wake Forest and gave fellow senior setter Nisa Buzletepe her sixth start of the season.

Both teams kept it close at 16-16 in the first set, but a 9-2 run for the Panthers gave them a 25-18 set victory. Outside hitters in sixth year Valeria Vazquez Gomez had three kills and sophomore Torrey Stafford added a kill and a service ace during the run for the Panthers.

Pitt came out with a huge, 16-3 lead to open the second set, which included service runs from Vazquez Gomez, graduate student outside hitter/serving specialist Cat Flood and sophomore right side Olivia Babcock, who had three straight service aces.

Babcock also added two kills and two blocks, while Stafford made four kills and two blocks during that run.

Wake Forest would try to make it competitive, but Pitt would hold on to easily win the second set, 25-14, with Stafford and Babcock making three more kills and two more kills, respectively.

The Panthers held early leads of 4-1, 7-4 and 12-8 in the third period, but the Demon Deacons stayed in it. They went on a 5-1 run to tie it at 13-13, forcing Panthers head coach Dan Fisher to call a timeout, and still keeping the deficit to one at 20-19.

Pitt would end the third set and get the sweep with a 5-1 run, including kills from redshirt junior middle blocker Bre Kelley, Babcock and Stafford, plus service aces from Vazquez Gomez and Flood.

Buzletepe had a solid performance for the Panthers with 35 assists, second most in a game for her this season, and helping her team hit .385 in the sweep of the Demon Deacons.

Stafford led Pitt with 16 kills, hit .483 and made 10 digs to finish with a double-double, fourth on the season and eighth of her career. She also had three assists and three blocks too.

Babcock would finish second with 11 kills, five blocks and tied for second for eight digs with Buzletepe. Those three service aces make it 59 in 2024, tying her for the second most aces in a season in Pitt history.

Vazquez Gomez had a sensational match, with 10 kills, hitting a team-high .529, both her second highest marks in a match this season.

Freshman middle blocker Ryla Jones had six blocks, while Kelley had four kills and three blocks herself in the victory.

Pitt will conclude their road trip this weekend with a matchup vs. NC State in Raleigh, N.C. on Nov. 24.

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Dominic Campbell
DOMINIC CAMPBELL

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