Preview: No. 1 Pitt Volleyball Hosts No. 5 Stanford

The No. 1 Pitt Panthers volleyball team hosts ACC newcomer in No. 5 Stanford.

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

PITTSBURGH -- The No. 1 Pitt Panthers volleyball team hosts ACC newcomer in No. 5 Stanford at a sold-out Fitzgerald Field House in front of a nationally televised audience, which will watch one of the most important matches of the season.

Pitt Volleyball 2024 Season

Pitt comes into this matchup 16-1 overall, 6-1 in the ACC and ranked as the No. 1 team in the country for the past six straight weeks in the AVCA Coaches Poll.

They have five ranked 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.

The biggest win of the season for Pitt came against Penn State in the Keystone Classic, taking down the 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.

The Panthers bounced back with a sweep of the Cal Golden Bears on Oct. 18, making it 15 matches they've won in sweeps, only dropping a set in the victory vs. the Boston College Eagles on Oct. 4 on the road.

Pitt has two of the best pin-hitters in the country in sophomores, right side Olivia Babcock and outside hitter Torrey Stafford

Babcock and Stafford rank first and second in the ACC with both points per set, 5.75 and 4.65, and kills per set, 4.31 and 4.19, respectively.

Stafford is hitting an incredible .405, which ranks No. 24 in the country and No. 3 in the ACC, but No. 2 amongst all pin-hitters in Division I.

Babcock also ranks No. 3 in the country for her points per set and No. 2 in the country for .80 aces per set. Her best match of the season came against Boston College, where she had a triple-double, making 14 kills, 10 digs and a program record 12 service aces.

Senior setter Rachel Fairbanks is second in the ACC with 10.44 assists per set and No. 21 in Division I, with her setting leading Pitt to a .348 hitting percentage, the best in the country. She also had five aces in the win vs. Cal, now ranking tied for No. 8 in the ACC with 0.40 aces per set.

Pitt also ranks No. 3 in the ACC and No. 17 in Division I with 2.83 blocks per set. Redshirt junior middle blocker Bre Kelley averages 1.44 blocks per set, third best in the ACC and No. 13 in Division I, freshman middle blocker Ryla Jones averages 1.14 blocks per set and Babcock ranks tied for No. 8 in the ACC with 1.20 blocks per set.

The Panthers rank No. 1 in the country with. a .099 opponent hitting percentage, holding eight opponents below .100 hitting and three for negative clips so far in 2024.

They also rank No. 4 in the country with 2.27 aces per set, thanks to Babcock, sixth year outside hitter Valeria Vazquez Gomez, graduate student outside hitter Cat Flood and Fairbanks. Vazquez Gomez ranks fifth in the ACC and No. 25 in Division I with 0.47 aces per set.

Pitt leads the ACC with 19.02 points per set, .78 opponent aces per set, 9.13 opponent digs per set and 9.31 opponent kills per set.

Stanford Volleyball History

Stanford ranks at the top when it comes to prestigious women's volleyball programs, with a record nine National Championships. They've also finished as runners-up eight times, made 23 Final Fours and every NCAA Tournament since 1981, except for the COVID-19 impacted 2020-21 season.

The Cardinal are 4-0 against the Panthers, defeating them in neutral sites in 1985, 1989, 1992 and in Pittsburgh in 1994, marking 30 years since their last matchup. Those victories in 1992 and 1994 also were the first two seasons the Cardinal won National Titles.

Head coach Kevin Hambly is in his eighth season in charge of Stanford, coming in from a successful tenure at Ilinois (2009-16), making the National Title match in 2011 and making the Sweet 16 five times.

He has a 185-39 (.826) overall record and a 116-21 (.847) conference record since taking over the Cardinal. He made the Final Four each of his first three seasons and won back-to-back National Championships in 2018 and 2019, with the latter one coming at PPG Paints Arena in Pittsburgh.

Stanford struggled in the two seasons following the COVID-19 pandemic, but have come back to national prominence the past two seasons, earning No. 1 seeds in the NCAA Tournament. They did fail twice to make it to the Final Four, with San Diego defeating them in 2022 and eventual National Champions Texas doing so in 2023, both in the Elite Eight.

This is the first season for Stanford in the ACC, departing the Pac-12 along with Cal. SMU also joined this season from the American Athletic Conference, making it 18 teams in the ACC. Stanford won the Pac-12 five times under Hambly since 2017 when he took over.

Stanford 2024 Season so Far/Players to Watch

Stanford is 14-2 overall and 6-1 in the ACC in 2024, putting themselves in the discussion for the best teams in the country.

They had a great start to the season, with two victories in Milwaukee at the FiServ Forum over then ranked No. 18 Minnesota in five sets on Sept. 1 and over then ranked No. 6 Wisconsin in four sets on Sept. 2. They also swept Milwaukee in the season opener on Aug. 30 and then ranked No. 24 Marquette on Sept. 4.

Stanford has two big home wins in a sweep of then ranked No. 6 Texas on Sept. 16 and then ranked No. 11 Kentucky on Sept. 21. They also swept No. 12 SMU on the road in their most recent match on Oct. 16 and have a few days rest, despite the long travel from Stanford to Dallas then to Pittsburgh.

Their two lone losses have come on the road in sweeps vs. then ranked No. 5 Nebraska on Sept. 18 and then ranked No. 5 Louisville on Sept. 29.

The Cardinal rank both second in the ACC and No. 12 in Division I with a .292 hitting percentage, 13.13 assists per set and 14.05 kills per set. They also rank third and fourth in the ACC with 17.77 points per set and 2.05 blocks per set, respectively.

Stanford have one of the best setters in the country in senior Kami Miner, who both won Pac-12 Setter of the Year and earned AVCA First Team All-American honors the past two seasons.

She leads the conference with 10.57 assists per set and has earned ACC Setter of the Week honors three times, including the past two weeks. She also ranks second on the team with 2.58 digs per set.

Fifth year libero Elena Oglivie leads the Cardinal and ranks No. 6 in the ACC with 3.95 digs per set, playing an important role in the team's defense.

Stanford also has two good middle blockers in senior Sami Francis and freshman Lizzy Andrews. Francis ranks fourth in the ACC and tied for No. 17 in Division I with 1.40 blocks per set, while also ranking No. 6 in the ACC with a .378 hitting percentage. Andrews has shown her talent in her first season, ranking ninth in the ACC with a .346 hitting percentage.

Junior outside hitter Ella Rubin earned Pac-12 honors the past two seasons and looks to earn All-ACC honors this season, ranking third in the conference with both 4.62 points per set and 4.08 kills per set.

Stanford have another exceptional outside hitter in redshirt freshman Ipar Kurt, who hails from Istanbul, Turkey. She is second on the team with both 3.09 kills per set and 3.46 points per set and had 16 kills in the win vs. SMU.

Sophomore outside hitter Jordyn Harvey ranks sixth in the ACC with 0.45 service aces per set. She also is third on the Cardinal with both 2.54 kills per set and 3.21 points per set.

How to Watch No. 1 Pitt Volleyball vs. No. 5 Stanford

ESPN will broadcast the matchup at 3:00 p.m., which is later than the normal 1:00 p.m. start on a Sunday for Pitt.

The match will also have the first reveal of the NCAA Division I Volleyball Committee top 16 teams, which is an expansion from the just doing the top 10 teams. It will air between the first and second set of the match between the Panthers and the Cardinal.

The top 16 teams show where the committee views teams heading into the NCAA Tournament, with those teams getting home court advantage through the first two rounds.

Pitt will want to earn a No. 1 seed, or a top four finish, guaranteeing them home court advantage through to the Final Four, which they did in 2021 and 2023, benefitting them in making the National Semifinals.

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