Pitt Volleyball Maintains No. 1 Ranking

Pitt Panthers volleyball maintained their No. 1 ranking in the country.

Pitt Volleyball celebrates a point in the win over Syracuse on Oct. 6 / Courtesy of Pitt Athlteics

PITTSBURGH -- Pitt Panthers volleyball maintained their No. 1 ranking in the AVCA Coaches Poll, once again staying on top of the rest of the country.

They received 51 first place votes, with No. 2 Nebraska receiving nine and No. 3 Penn State receiving one vote, a one vote improvement from last week. This makes it eight straight weeks that Pitt has held on the No. 1 ranking in the AVCA Coaches Poll.

Pitt took down rival No. 4 Louisville in five sets in front of 11,000+ fans at the Petersen Events Center on Oct. 25 and defeated Notre Dame in four sets at a sold-out Fitzgerald Field House on Oct. 27.

These were the first two wins that the Panthers got that weren't sweeps since they defeated the Boston College Eagles on the road on Oct. 4.

Redshirt junior middle blocker Bre Kelley had a fantastic game for the Panthers in their win over the Cardinals, making a career-high 12 kills, hitting .500 and tying a career-high of 10 blocks.

Sophomore right side Olivia Babcock also played well, with 22 kills, hitting .326 and adding both seven digs and four total blocks. Graduate student outside hitter Valeria Vazquez Gomez had a double-double with 10 kills and 11 digs.

AVCA Coaches Poll

The top six stay the same, with Louisville staying at No. 4, after they defeated No. 12 SMU on Oct. 27 on the road, and both Stanford and Creighton at No. 5 and No. 6, respectively.

Texas dropped two spots from No. 7 to No. 9, after they lost at home to rival Texas A&M in five sets on Oct. 23. This allowed Wisconsin, who swept then ranked No. 10 Purdue on the road, to move up to No. 7 and for Kansas, who swept then ranked No. 21 Utah at home, to move up to No. 8. Oregon also moved up to No. 10, while Purdue dropped to No. 11

SMU stayed at No. 12 and Georgia Tech moved up one spot to No. 16, currently on a six-match winning streak. Florida State dropped down four spots to No. 23, after they lost in five sets on the road to No. 25 North Carolina.

Pitt Volleyball Schedule Ahead

Pitt will head out on the road this weekend to face both Virginia on Nov. 1 and Virginia Tech on Nov. 3.

Virginia is 17-4 and 7-2 in the ACC and has received votes in the latest AVCA Coaches Poll. They swept both then ranked No. 16 Florida State and Miami on Oct. 4 and Oct. 6 for their most imporatnt wins of the season.

Virginia Tech is 7-13 overall, 1-9 in the ACC, second from bottom, and has lost its past four matches. Their only ACC win came against Clemson, who is winless in conference play, in four sets on Oct. 13.

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