Inside The Panthers

Pitt Volleyball Star Wins Third Player of Week Award

Pitt Panthers volleyball star won third player of the week award.

Dominic Campbell

Pitt Volleyball Right Side Hitter Olivia Babcock
Pitt Volleyball Right Side Hitter Olivia Babcock / Courtesy of Pitt Athletic

PITTSBURGH -- Pitt Panthers volleyball sophomore right side hitter Olivia Babcock had a great weekend and received national recognition.

Babcock earned AVCA National Player of the Week honors for her play in the sweeps of then ranked No. 22 Florida State on Nov. 15 and Miami on Nov. 17, both at home.

She averaged 8.08 points per set, 6.50 kills per set, 1.17 blocks per set, 1.17 digs per set, 1.00 ace per set and hit .525 in both matches, helping her earn ACC Offensive Player of the Week honors for the third time this season.

Babcock finished with 19 kills and hit .519, while also making four digs and four blocks in the win over the Seminoles. She also had 20 kills, the most for her in three sets this season, plus five service aces, three digs and three blocks, while also hitting .531 vs. the Hurricanes.

She is now up to 56 service aces on the season, which is a new program record in the 25-point scoring era (2008-present). She broke the previous record of setter Lindsey Zitzke, who had 53 service aces as a freshman in 2011.

This is the second time this season that Babcock has earned AVCA National Player of the Week honors.

She led with 16 kills. hit a season-high .577, while also adding five total blocks, two service aces and two digs against Cal on Oct. 18. She also led with 17 kills, hit .361, along with six total blocks, six digs and a service ace vs. then ranked No. 5 Stanford on Oct. 20, with both matches sweeps at home.

Babcock finished that weekend averaging 7.0 points per set, 5.5 kills per set, 1.83 blocks per set, 1.33 digs per set and hitting .452 in both games, also earning ACC Offensive Player of the Week honors for the second time.

She is having a sensational season so far, ranking second in the country with .69 aces per set, fourth with 5.84 points per set and No. 16 with 4.53 kills per set, while leading the ACC in all three categories.

Babcock also ranks No. 10 in the ACC with a .353 hitting percentage, tied for No. 10 in the ACC with 1.14 blocks per set and is averaging 1.68 digs per set.

Her best game of the season came against Boston College on the road on Oct. 4, a four-set victory.

Babcock finished with a triple-double, with 14 kills, 12 service aces and 10 digs in the victory. This was the first triple-double for her at Pitt and the first for the program since Rachel Fairbanks had 10 kills, 28 assists and 13 digs in the sweep over BYU In the Second Round of the 2022 NCAA Tournament at the Petersen Events Center.

Those 12 service aces set the record for the most in a single match in Pitt history. The previous record for service aces in a match sat at eight total, which Diana Andreyko in a five set win vs. Florida State on the road on Sept. 3, 2005 and Wendy Hatlestad in a sweep vs. Savannah State at home on Sept. 13, 2002.

She also holds the record for most service aces in a match in NCAA Division I this season. She broke the previous high of 11 that Nicholls State junior outside hitter Leah Linares Castro had in the four-set victory in the season opener vs. South Carolina State on Aug. 30.

Babcock earned numerous accoldes as a freshman last season, including All-ACC Freshman Team, All-ACC First Team, All-ACC Freshman of the Year, AVCA All-East Coast Region Team, AVCA East Coast Region Freshman of the Year, AVCA First Team All-American and AVCA National Freshman of the Year.

She also earned ACC Offensive Player of the Week and AVCA National Player of the Week honors for her performance in the sweep of then ranked No. 8 Georgia Tech on the road on Nov. 10, 2023, making it the third time she's received the honor in her career.

Babcock led the Panthers with 15 kills against the Yellow Jackets and had an incredible .652 hitting percentage. She also finished second with four total blocks, added three digs and tied with Dillyn Griffin for two services aces, best on the Panthers.

She also made the USA Women's Volleyball Team as they play at the NORCECA Women’s Final Six Pan American Cup, June 26-30 in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic. The team won silver and Babcock served as the only rising sophomore on the team.

Babcock is one of 14 semifinalists for AVCA National Player of the Year, including two of her teammates in Fairbanks and fellow sophomore in Torrey Stafford.

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Dominic Campbell
DOMINIC CAMPBELL

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