Preview: Pitt Volleyball Faces No. 13 Georgia Tech

No. 1 Pitt Panthers volleyball faces ACC rival No. 13 Georgia Tech in Atlanta.

No. 1 Pitt Volleyball Celebrates a Point in their win vs. No. 23 USC in Los Angeles / Courtesy of Pitt Athletics

PITTSBURGH -- No. 1 Pitt Panthers volleyball takes on ACC rival No. 13 Georgia Tech in Atlanta, which will serve as important test for both programs in ACC Play.

Pitt Volleyball Season Review

Pitt volleyball is 11-0 to start 2024, finishing perfect in non-conference play and also not even dropping a set, the only team to not do so. They are also one of three teams left undefeated in Division I, along with San Jose State and South Dakota State.

They've held the No. 1 ranking, their first in program history, for three weeks now, have three ranked victories, including two on the road against then ranked No. 10 Oregon in the season opener on Aug. 30 and then ranked No. 23 USC on Sept. 11.

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

Sophomores in right side hitter Olivia Babcock and outside hitter Torrey Stafford rank first and second in the ACC with points per set, 5.69 and 5.19, respectively, and second and first in kills per set, 4.45 and 4.50, respectively.

Senior setter Rachel Fairbanks leads the ACC with 10.88 assists per set and her setting is leading Pitt to a .361 hitting percentage, best in the country.

Pitt, as a team, also leads the ACC with 2.33 aces per set, 13.36 assists per set, 14.45 kills per set, 19.33 points per set, .129 opponent hitting percentage, .70 opponent aces per set and 9.64 opponent digs per set.

No one in the country is playing as well as Pitt right now and if they keep it up, they'll have a great chance to make their fourth straight Final Four.

Pitt-Georgia Tech Volleyball History

Pitt has dominated in the series, 15-2 overall and 15-1 since joining the ACC in 2013. The only Georgia Tech win came in five sets on Oct. 10, 2021 in Pittsburgh, as Pitt is 8-0 in Atlanta.

The Yellow Jackets had two great chances in the past two seasons to defeat the Panthers in Pittsburgh.

They took a 2-1 lead on Nov. 23, 2022, but the Panthers won the fourth set and erased deficits of 3-0, 6-2 and 10-6 to pull out the 19-17 victory in the fifth set at the Petersen Events Center.

Georgia Tech then won the first two sets at Fitzgerald Field House on Oct, 6, 2023, but Pitt would dominate the final three sets to get the reverse sweep.

The Panthers swept the Yellow Jackets on the road last season, with Babcock putting in an AVCA National Player of the Week performance as she hit .652, had 15 kills and made four blocks. They also won in four sets in 2022 at McCammish Pavilion, the men's and women's basketball arena for the Yellow Jackets.

Georgia Tech Preview

Georgia Tech comes into this matchup 8-2 overall and off a defeat to No. 23 SMU in a sweep on Sept. 27 at home in their ACC opener. SMU outhit Georgia Tech .400 to .276 and outblocked them 8.0 to 3.0in their first ever ACC match.

The Yellow Jackets have one other loss against the UCLA Bruins in their season opener on Aug. 30 in five sets, also in Atlanta.

Georgia Tech has two ranked wins over then ranked No. 14 BYU on Sept. 7 on the road in five sets and swept then ranked No. 13 Florida on Sept. 11 at McCammish Pavilion. They also have a road win over rival Georgia in Athens in four sets on Sept. 20.

Head coach Michelle Collier is in her 11th season as head coach of Georgia Tech. She has led them to four straight NCAA Tournament appearances, including the Sweet 16 in 2023 as a No. 5 seed.

The Yellow Jackets, like the Panthers, bring back talented, experienced players to 2024, giving them an edge on many of their opponents. Collier, who is from Brazil, has seven international players on the roster, with six of them from South America.

Senior outside hitter Bianca Bertolino, who hails from Argentina, earned All-ACC First Team honors and an AVCA All-American Honorable Mention for her play in 2023.

Her top-spin serve, or jump serve, much like Babcock's, has her No. 5 in the NCAA and top of the ACC with 0.67 aces per set.

She also averages 4.29 points per set, leads team and No. 10 in the ACC, and also averages 3.39 kills, and 2.72 digs per set, second and third best on the Yellow Jackets.

Senior outside hitter Tamara Otene, who hails from New Zealand, earned All-ACC First Team honors in 2023 and is playing well again in 2024. She is No. 8 in the ACC with 3.75 kills per set and second on the team with both 4.28 points per set and 3.19 digs per set.

Yellow Jackets senior setter Luanna Emiliano, who hails from Brazil, transferred from UTRGV and played against Pitt on Aug. 27, 2023 in Montana, making 24 assists, three kills and four digs in the loss. She is No. 6 in the ACC with 9.14 assists per set and fourth on the team with 2.17 digs.

Sophomore right side Larissa Mendes, also from Brazil, is coming off an All-ACC Freshman season in 2023 and hitting .361, ninth best in the ACC. She is also third on Georgia Tech with 3.30 kills per set and 3.68 points per set.

Georgia Tech has two solid middle blockers in junior Liv Mogridge and senior DeAndra Pierce. Mogridge is hitting .404 and leads the team with 0.97 blocks per set, while Pierce is hitting .400 and averaging .69 blocks per set, second best.

They also added junior college (JUCO) transfer in libero/defensive specialist Sofia Velez from Trinity Valley Community College. The Colombian led the NJCAA with 1,523 digs, 5.60 per set, the past two seasons and now leads the Yellow Jackets with 3.44 digs per set.

Georgia Tech is also second behind Pitt as a team with a .298 hitting percentage, making this an match that should see good attacking play from both sides.

The Yellow Jackets do have a weakness in that they were playing a 6-2 rotation, six hitters and two setters, but with the injury to sophomore setter Heloise Soares, they've experimented with both a 5-1 rotation, with one setter playing most of the match.

Emiliano plays most of the time, but is only 5-foot-7 and struggles when the rotation puts her at the net. They also play a 6-2 rotation, but the only other setter the Yellow Jackets have is walk-on senior Ashlynn Goolsby, who didn't play her first three seasons.

Pitt benefits by having Fairbanks, who excels at the net in either a 5-1 or a 6-2, as she played in the latter rotation for most of her Pitt career and also in high school/club. The 6-2 rotation put Fairbanks at right side, and standing at 6-foot, she shows no fear in either rotation, averaging 1.15 kills per set in 2022.

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