Pitt Volleyball Earns Two ACC Honors

Pitt Panthers volleyball had two players earn ACC weekly honors for their performance.

No. 1 Pitt Volleyball Sweeps No. 3 Penn State in the Keystone Classic at the Petersen Events Center / Courtesy of Pitt Athletics

PITTSBURGH -- The Pitt Panthers volleyball team had two players earn ACC weekly recognition, with senior Rachel Fairbanks the ACC Co-Setter of the Week and middle blocker Ryla Jones the ACC Freshman of the Week.

Fairbanks currently leads the ACC and is No. 5 in the country with 11.30 assists per set. She had 42 assists in the sweep of No. 3 Penn State on Sept. 18 in front of a program record crowd of 11,800 people at the Petersen Events Center, with her teammates hitting .506 on her sets.

She also had 39 assists in the sweep of Marquette on Sept. 22 at Fitzgerald Field House, averaging 13.5 assists per set this past week. She also averaged 2.33 digs per set, 0.33 aces per set and helped Pitt hit .391 as a team.

Fairbanks is also third on the team with digs, at 2.60 per set, and also had seven total blocks in 2024.

She earned First Team All-American, AVCA East Coast Region Player of the Year and First Team All-ACC honors last season, leading Pitt to its third straight Final Four, with 9.33 assists per set.

Jones had seven kills on 11 attacks, hitting .636 and led Pitt with six blocks in the sweep of Penn State. She also made a season-high eight kills on 10 attacks, hitting .800, in the win vs. East Carolina on Sept. 20 and added five blocks. Jones had three kills and four blocks in the sweep of Marquette.

She hit .692 and had three kills per set, along with 13 total blocks over the past weekend, for her first ACC Freshman of the Week award honor.

Jones starts at middle blocker for the Panthers, along with redshirt junior Bre Kelley. She joined the program as a mid-year enrollee in January and she has played well so far in just her first season.

She leads Pitt with 36.0 total blocks, has hit .492, second behind Kelley, and has 1.33 kills per set, fifth on the team. Her 1.33 blocks per set is No. 6 in the ACC and tied for No. 42 in Division I.

Pitt volleyball is No. 1 in the latest AVCA Coaches Poll, the only undefeated team in the top 25 and the only team to not drop a set so far in Division 1.

They will face UMBC In their non-conference finale at Fitzgerald Field House on Sept. 25 with a 5:00 p.m. tip-off. Pitt will then start ACC play, facing Clemson on Sept. 27 at 7:00 p.m. and No. 13 Georgia Tech at 1:30 p.m. on the ACC Network on Sept. 29, with both matches on the road.

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