Pitt Volleyball Commits Earn All-American Honors

Pitt Panthers volleyball commits earn All-American honors.

Pitt Volleyball Class of 2025 Signees Abbey Emch and Samara Coleman / Courtesy of Pitt Athletic

PITTSBURGH -- Pitt Panthers volleyball has commitments that earned All-American honors for their performances for their high school this season.

Outside hitters Samara Coleman and Ayanna Watson earned 2024 AVCA Girls High School First Team All-American honors and middle blocker Abbey Emch earned 2024 AVCA Girls High School Second Team All-American honors.

Coleman and Emch are seniors and signed their National Letter of Intent for the Class of 2025, while Watson is a junior in the Class of 2026.

Coleman stands at 6-foot-1 and plays for Grand Oaks High School in Spring, Texas and for her club team, Houston Skyline. She also has experience in the USA National Team Development Program.

She has a vertical jump at 30 inches with one arm and a standing reach of 90 inches, according to herHudl. Her vertical helps her excel against her opponents and it doesn't hurt her to have such great power behind each swing.

Coleman has had a great senior season so far, averaging 5.4 kills per set, 0.4 aces per set and is hitting .332. She also plays well in the back row, with 2.6 digs per set and a 96.5% reception rate on opponent serves.

She made 499 kills, 4.1 per set, while hitting .351 as a junior. She also 49 service aces, 0.4 per set, made 309 digs, 2.5 per set, and excelled in serve-receive, making just 29 errors on 745 serves.

Coleman received a number of accolades for her efforts in 2023, including Texas State Writers Association Class 6A Player of the Year and VYPEHouston Public School Player of the Year.

Watson plays for Bishop Gorman High School Las Vegas and also for Vegas Aces 16 Under Armour, her travel team.

She had a fantastic junior season for the Gaels, averaging 7.3 kills per set. 0.5 aces per set, 3.0 digs per set, hit .547 and had no reception errors.

Her performance helped Bishop Gorman finish with a 29-8 overall record, 12-0 record in the Class 5A Southern - Desert Conference and Las Vegas 5A State Champions.

Watson committed back on June 25 and will join Pitt along with fellow high school and club teammate, setter Trinity Thompson.

The Panthers also have three other Class of 2026 commitments in outside hitter/libero/defensive specialist Izzy Masten from Tri-West Hendricks High School in Lizton, Ind., outside hitter Lola Sageerof Liverpool High School in Liverpool, N.Y. and setter Isabella Hoppe of Pine Richland High School in Gibsonia, Pa.

Emch hails from New Waterford, Ohio and played for Crestview High School, just a little over 60 miles northwest of Pitt's campus, near the Ohio-Pennsylvania border.

She had an incredible senior season, averaging 6.4 kills per set, 0.8 aces per set and hit .501. She also played well in the back row, averaging 3.0 digs per set and a 94.0% reception in serve-receive.

Emch finished her high school career playing 338 sets and making 1,577 kills, 726 digs, 206 aces and 317 total blocks. She was had a 102-6 record over four seasons at Crestview, including winning 310 of 338 those sets.

She also earned District Player of the Year, MVAC Player of the Year, First Team All-Ohio, First Team All-District, FirstTeam MVAC and AVCA girls high school All-Region honors.

Emch's versatility playing at middle blocker and also as an outside hitter will benefit her greatly at the collegiate level, as she stands at 6-foot-4, giving her a chance to dominate at the net.

Pitt volleyball assistant coach/recruiting coordinator Kellen Petrone pointed out the relationship the staff built with Emch as a reason she chose to commit and that they love both her talent and versatiltiy on the court.

"Abbey, she played for a small club," Petrone said. "She questioned herself sometimes, "Should I go to a bigger club?", but she wanted to stay loyal and we supported her in that decision and she's someone that really a lot of the top schools wanted, but because of her connection to us and growing up around our program, she felt like this was home for her.

"For high school and club, she's a player that can do it all and, so she is someone that has filled whatever her role her team has needed. So the fact that she has not just played middle blocker, which is what she'll primarily play here, makes her just a better volleyball player."

Petrone is excited to bring both players to campus for next season and they both will have great careers with as Panthers.

"They are insanely underrated," Petrone said. "Samara not so much because she's played at a really high level. She's in the state championship this upcoming Tuesday. So she has a chance to go back-to-back state championships in Texas, which is one of the best states in volleyball in the country.

"We could not be more excited about these two and they are both going to have a big impact here."

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