Inside The Panthers

No. 1 Pitt Volleyball Takes Down Boston College

No. 1 Pitt Volleyball defeated Boston College on the road to stay undefeated.

Dominic Campbell

Pitt Volleyball Celebrates their win vs. Boston College
Pitt Volleyball Celebrates their win vs. Boston College / Courtesy of Pitt Athletics

PITTSBURGH -- No. 1 Pitt Panthers volleyball continued their winning, as they defeated Boston College on the road Friday night.

The Panthers improve to 12-0 and 3-0 in the ACC wth the win over the Eagles (7-8 overall, 0-3 ACC). It is also the 21st straight win for the Panthers over the Eagles, improves the all-time series record to 39-1, 17-0 since the Panthers joined the ACC in 2013 and 12-1 in Chestnut Hill, Mass.

Pitt used a 6-2 run to build an 8-4 lead in the first set, with sophomore right side hitter Olivia Babcock making three consecutive service aces and a kill.

The Eagles responded with an 7-4 run to cut the lead to 12-11 and forced the Panthers to call a timeout. Sophomore outside hitter Halle Schroder had two kills and a block on the run.

Boston College would it it up twice at 12-12 and 13-13, but Babcock made a kill and two service aces to spur Pitt on a 5-0 run, taking an 18-13 lead.

The Eagles then made two big blocks and took advantage of three more attack errors from the Panthers to use an 8-3 run to take a 21-20 lead.

Redshirt junior middle blocker Bre Kelley kept Pitt in the set with a block and a kill, tying it up at 22, but Schroder and fellow sophomore hitter Audrey Ross made back-to-back kills for the Eagles to get to set point.

Schroder would commit a service error, but Boston College would stun Pitt and win the set 25-23 on a block.

The set loss for Pitt ended a streak of 36 set victories, as they swept their first 12 opponents in 2024. Pitt is also the last team to drop a set this season, with only two other undefeated teams in No. 25 Washington and South Dakota State.

Boston College outblocked Pitt 9-1 in the first set, with six block assists from senior middle blocker Julia Haggerty. They also held the best hitting team in Division I in Pitt to a -.048 hitting percentage in that period.

The Panthers completely dominated in the second set, winning 25-7 and outhitting the Eagles .353 to -.190. The seven points for the Eagles is the least for a Panthers' opponent in a set since the Syracuse Orange scored just six points in the third set in a sweep at home on Oct. 1, 2023.

Babcock continued to excel, with five service aces on a 10-0 run for the Panthers and sixth year outside hitter Valeria Vazquez Gomez added two aces herself to give the team seven in the period.

Pitt took control of the third set as well, winning it 25-8, holding Boston College to -.290 hitting. Babcock again starred for Pitt, with four blocks, three kills and two service aces in the period.

Both teams kept it close in the fourth set, tied at 10-10 midway through. The Panthers used a 5-2 run to force the Eagles to take a timeout, as sophomore outside hitter Torrey Stafford made two kills, and then scored six of the next 10 points to build a 21-16 advantage, leading to another Eagles timeout.

Boston College would cut the lead to 22-19 on a 3-0 run, but a kill from Babcock kept the momentum with Pitt. Stafford would finish off the match with a kill and a block to end the set, 25-20.

Babcock had one of the greatest games in Panthers history, statistically, finishing with a triple-double of 14 kills, 12 service aces and 10 digs.

That is 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.

Her 12 service aces set a new program record, breaking the previous-high of eight from both Diana Andreyko in 2005 vs. Florida State and Wendy Hatlestad vs. Savannah State in 2002.

It is also the most in a single match in Division I this season, breaking the record 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.

Pitt, as a team, finished with 16 service aces, marking the most ever under Dan Fisher in his 12 seasons at the helm of the program. It broke the previous record of 15 vs. Louisville at home in a four-set victory on Oct. 26, 2014.

Fisher, himself, earned his 300th victory as head coach of the Panthers with the win over the Eagles. He recently broke the program record for most victories with the sweep over Marquette at home on Sept. 22, giving him 296 victories, overtaking Shelton Collier, who had 295 victories in nine seasons from 1980-88.

Stafford added 14 kills, hit .321, made seven digs and three blocks off the bench in the victory. Fellow sophomore outside hitter Blaire Bayless got the start, making eight kills, but her eight attack errors gave her a .000 hitting percentage.

Freshman middle blocker Dalia Vîrlan got her first start of her Pitt career, over fellow freshman middle blocker Ryla Jones, who didn't play against Boston College. Vîrlan finished with six kills, hit .455 and made six blocks.

Panthers senior setter Rachel Fairbanks had 37 assists and 10 digs for her fourth double-double of the season, along with three blocks and three kills.

Kelley finished with a season-high nine blocks to lead the Panthers in the win vs. the Eagles, while also adding four kills. Senior libero/defensive specialist Emmy Klika had nine digs and Vazquez Gomez made eight digs, second and third best on the Panthers, respectively.

Pitt will finish their weekend road trip as they take on Syracuse on Oct. 6 at 11:00 a.m.

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Dominic Campbell
DOMINIC CAMPBELL

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