Pitt Volleyball Maintains No. 1 Ranking

Pitt Panthers volleyball maintained their No. 1 ranking.

Dominic Campbell | 8 Hours Ago

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

PITTSBURGH -- Pitt Panthers volleyball had another sensational weekend, which allowed them to maintain their No. 1 ranking in the latest AVCA Coaches Poll.

They received 49 first place votes, with No. 2 Nebraska receiving 12 votes. This makes it 11 straight weeks that Pitt has held on the No. 1 ranking in the AVCA Coaches Poll.

Pitt swept both then ranked No. 22 Florida State on Nov. 15 and Miami on Nov. 17, improving to 25-1 overall and 15-1 in the ACC.

This makes it 10 straight wins for Pitt, as they swept Cal on Oct. 18 and then ranked No. 5 Stanford on Oct. 20 and defeated then ranked No. 4 Louisville in five sets on Oct. 25 and Notre Dame in four sets on Oct. 27, with all four matches at home.

They then swept Virginia on Nov. 1. and Virginia Tech on Nov. 3, both on the road and also then ranked No. 25 North Carolina on Nov. 8 and Duke on Nov. 10, both at home.

The win over the Seminoles makes it nine ranked wins for the Panthers, along with the victories over the Cardinal, the Cardinals and the Tar Heels.

This includes three victories on the road vs. 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, all sweeps.

Pitt also has top 25 home wins vs. then ranked No. 3 Penn State on Sept. 18 at a sold-out Petersen Events Center and then ranked No. 15 SMU at Fitzgerald Field House on Oct. 9.

Sophomore right side hitter Olivia Babcock earned ACC Offensive Player of the Week honors for the third time this season. 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

Senior setter Rachel Fairbanks earned ACC Setter of the Week honors for the fourth time this season. She averaged 12.00 assists per set and 2.17 digs per set this past weekend and set Pitt to a .438 team hitting percentage

AVCA Coaches Poll

The top 10 teams stay the same, with Louisville, Penn State, Creighton, Wisconsin, Stanford, Purdue, Arizona State and SMU ranking No. 3-No.10, respectively.

Oregon lost in five sets to USC, which dropped them two spots to No. 13, allowing Kansas and Kentucky to move up to No. 12 and No. 13, respectively. USC also moved up two spots themselves to No. 21.

Georgia Tech stayed at No. 15 after sweeps of Boston College and Syracuse and Florida State dropped one spot to No. 23 after losing to SMU and Pitt in sweeps.

Ranked matches taking place this week include No. 6 Wisconsin hosting No. 16 Minnesota on Nov. 20, No. 4 Penn State hosting No. 8 Purdue on Nov. 21, No. 23 Florida State hosting No. 15 Georgia Tech on Nov. 22, both No. 2 Nebraska hosting No. 6 Wisconsin and No. 8 Purdue hosting No. 21 USC on Nov. 23,