Pitt Volleyball Remains Ranked No. 1

Pitt Panthers volleyball remains ranked No. 1 in the country.

Pitt Volleyball Celebrates a Point / Courtesy of Pitt Athletics

PITTSBURGH -- Pitt Panthers volleyball remains ranked No. 1 in the country in the latest AVCA Coaches Poll.

They received 49 first place votes, with No. 2 Nebraska receiving 12 votes. This makes it 10 straight weeks that Pitt has held on the No. 1 ranking in the AVCA Coaches Poll.

Pitt swept both then ranked No. 25 North Carolina on Nov. 8 and Duke on Nov. 10 this past weekend, improving to 23-1 overall and 13-1 in the ACC.

This makes it eight straight wins for Pitt, as they swept both Cal on Oct. 18 and No. 5 Stanford on Oct. 20, defeated No. 4 Louisville in four sets on Oct. 25 and Notre Dame in five sets on Oct. 27, two weeks ago, swept both Virginia on Nov. 1. and Virginia Tech on Nov. 3 on the road and also swept No. 25 North Carolina at home on Nov. 8.

Pitt now has eight top 25 wins, including three on the road 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, all sweeps.

Their highest ranked win on the season came at the Petersen Events Center against Penn State in the Keystone Classic, taking down the then ranked No. 3 team on Sept. 18 in front of a program record crowd at the Petersen Events Center of 11,800 fans.

Pitt also swept then ranked No. 15 SMU on Oct. 9 at Fitzgerald Field House, but would lose on the road to them on Oct. 12, suffering their first defeat of the season in five sets, after leading 2-1 after three sets.

AVCA Coaches Poll

Penn State suffered a sweep on the road to Wisconsin back on Nov. 9, just their second loss of the season.

Louisville moved up one spot to No. 3 and Penn State dropped to No. 4, while Wisconsin moved up a spot as well to No. 6. Stanford, who swept then ranked No. 16 Georgia Tech, dropped down to No. 7.

Kansas suffered two road defeats this past week, losing in four sets to then ranked No. 11 Arizona State on Nov. 6 and in five sets to Arizona on Nov. 8.

They moved down four spots from No. 8 to No. 12. Purdue moved up one spot to No. 8, Arizona State moved up two spots to No. 9 and Oregon rose one spot to No. 11.

Creighton and SMU, who earned big wins against Big East rival Marquette and then ranked No. 25 North Carolina, respectively, stayed put at No. 5 and No. 10, respectively.

Texas and Georgia Tech both moved up one spot to No. 14 and No. 15, respectively, following Minnesota losing twice at home to Washington and then ranked No. 12 Oregon, which dropped them two spots to No. 16.

North Carolina dropped out of the rankings following their two losses to No. 1 Pitt and No. 10 SMU on the road.

Pitt Volleyball Schedule Ahead

Pitt will host both No. 22 Florida State on Nov. 15 and Miami (receiving votes) and Nov. 17 this weekend at Fitzgerald Field House.

The match vs. the FSU takes place at 5:00 p.m., to accomodate for Pitt men's basketball hosting rival West Virginia in the Backyard Brawl at 8:00 p.m. at the Petersen Events Center the same night.

Florida State moved up two spots following wins and Miami received more votes, after they both defeated Wake Forest and NC State last weekend.

FSU has top 25 wins vs. then ranked No. 25 Georgia on Sept. 1 and twice over then ranked No. 25 Miami, in five sets on the road on Sept. 25 and a sweep at home on Sept. 27.

Miami upset then ranked No. 1 Texas on the road, reverse sweeping them on Sept. 7 and then upset then ranked No. 5 Stanford at home in five sets on Nov. 1.

The Panthers failed in their reverse sweep comeback vs. the Seminoles last season on the road. This allowed both teams to share the ACC Championship and the Seminoles to get the automatic qualifier bid for the NCAA Tournament.

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