Pitt Volleyball Learns Dates for Rivalry Games

The Pitt Panthers share a great volleyball rivalry with Louisville and will play twice next season, once again.

Mar 26, 2023; Seattle, WA, USA; Louisville Cardinals mascot Louie gestures in the first half against / Kirby Lee-USA TODAY Sports

PITTSBURGH -- The Pitt Panthers and Louisville Cardinals share a great volleyball rivalry and will continue that into the 2024 season.

Louisville released their schedule in early May, which features two matches against Pitt. Pitt will host the first match on Friday, Oct. 25 and then Louisville will host the second match on Wednesday, Nov. 27, the day before Thanksgiving.

Pitt Volleyball vs. Louisville Rivalry History

The rivalry between the two schools is one of the best in volleyball, with some of the most important matches in recent history.

The two schools have met twice in the regular season for the past five seasons and six times overall in the past two seasons.

The rivalry is also bolstered by two of the best coaches in the country in the Panthers' Dan Fisher and the Cardinals' Dani Busboom Kelly, who have helped their respective program serve as one of the best in the country.

Pitt holds a 10-8 lead in the series since Louisville joined the ACC in 2014, but Louisville holds an 8-7 advantage since Busboom Kelly took over in 2017.

The Panthers have five ACC titles, 2017-19 and 2022-23, and the Cardinals have four ACC titles, 2017 and 2020-22, during that time as well.

Both teams have won their regular season games at home these past two seasons, with the home crowd playing a big role in each victory.

Pitt faced off against Louisville at the Petersen Events Center last season on Nov. 18 and pulled off a dramatic reverse sweep in front of a program record 8,865 fans.

The rivalry also extends further past the regular season into the NCAA Tournament, as Pitt and Louisville played each other in these past two postseasons.

They faced off in the 2022 Final Four in Omaha, Neb., with a back-and-forth match that went to five sets. Great serving from the Cardinals saw them dominate in that final set, 15-2, to make the Championship game.

Louisville looked like they would defeat Pitt again this past season in the Elite Eight, going up 2-0. Pitt would have the benefit of a great Fitzgerald Field House crowd and controlled the final three sets, reverse sweeping Louisville again, to make their third straight Final Four.

Pitt Volleyball Schedule Looking Forward

Pitt does not have its own schedule out yet, as the program generally doesn't release it until early June.

The ACC schedule is now 20 games instead of 18 games, which was the amount the previous 10 seasons had. The last time the ACC had 20 games was 2013, Pitt and Syracuse's first season in the conference, but the additions of Notre Dame and Louisville in 2014 changed it to 18 games.

ACC teams will have three opponents they play home-and-away in 2024, instead of four the previous 10 seasons.

The additions of Pac-12 teams Stanford and Cal, plus SMU, make it so that everyone will play the other 17 teams once and then three opponents twice for the 20 matches.

Lousiville and SMU will serve as two of Pitt's home-and-away oppoents. Pitt will host the American Athletic Conference champion in 2023 on Tuesday, Oct. 8 and then travel to Dallas, Texas, to face them that Saturday, Oct. 12.

Pitt also has two other ACC games on the schedule that other teams put out. This includes Wake Forest on Friday, Nov. 22 and NC State on Sunday, Nov. 24, making it three straight road games toward the end of the season for Pitt, along with Louisville on Wednesday, Nov. 27.

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