Volleyball: Panthers split weekend matches against Marquette, Syracuse

The Pitt volleyball team snapped its three-game losing streak last weekend as the Panthers earned their second conference victory in dominating fashion.

After losing a tight contest at Marquette on Friday night, Pitt notched an impressive sweep on the road against Syracuse on Sunday afternoon.

Head coach Toby Rens was satisfied with his entire team’s performance in both matches.

“I was very pleased with the focus we had from start to finish,” Rens said. “On the whole, everybody contributed.”

Marquette 3, Pitt 1

The Panthers (11-9, 2-4 Big East) fell to a talented Marquette (13-3, 4-0 Big East) squad in a close match with set scores of 22-25, 25-27, 25-23 and 13-25 on Friday night in Milwaukee, Wis.

Despite the defeat, Rens stated that he was proud of his team for competing valiantly against one of the conference’s top teams.

“Marquette is a great team,” he said. “Obviously we wanted to come out with the win, but we played some very good volleyball against the team leading the Big East.”

The opening set saw the score tied at 13-13, but Marquette used a 7-2 run to pull away and earn the set victory.

The score was tied 19 times in the second set, and the Panthers held the lead at the 18-14 mark. However, the Golden Eagles battled back to tie the score at 20-20 and used two consecutive kills to end the set at 27-25.

Pitt jumped out to an early lead in the third set with a 10-4 advantage and staved off a Marquette surge to force a fourth set.

In the final set of the match, the Golden Eagles held the lead from the 3-2 mark on and earned the overall victory, maintaining their undefeated Big East record this season.

The Panthers were led by junior outside hitter Monica Wignot’s 15 kills and sophomore setter Lindsey Zitzke’s 27 assists, while senior libero Margy Acton paced the defense with her 23 digs.

For Zitzke, the loss showed the Panthers the areas in which they need to improve going forward in the season.

“We need to work on staying focused and disciplined during practice, so we can make progress,” Zitzke said. “We want to approach practice like a game so that we can get the most out of practice and make steps forward.”

Pitt 3, Syracuse 0

The Panthers won their second Big East match of the season in a sweep at Syracuse (9-11, 1-4 Big East), with set scores of 25-22, 25-16 and 25-18.

Wignot again led the offense with 12 kills, while freshman outside hitter Jessica Wynn also contributed 12 kills. Wignot had two kills in the first set of the match that broke a 14-14 tie and helped the Panthers to a 25-22 win.

According to Wignot, the Panthers made improvements from the previous match that helped them earn the important victory.

“We were more aggressive and more accurate than in the past,” Wignot said of her team’s efforts. “We definitely performed better offensively and defensively.”

Acton, who led the match with 17 digs, agreed with her teammate.

“We were able to be the aggressor and get the opponent out of system,” Acton said. “That allowed us to play consistently on both sides of the ball.”

Syracuse held the early 4-1 advantage in the second set, but a 9-2 Pitt run allowed the Panthers to obtain and keep the lead for the remainder of the set.

The third and final set followed the same pattern, as the score was close with Pitt up 11-10 before another Panther surge sealed the set and match victory.

Seeking its first home conference win of the season, Pitt will return to face Georgetown and Villanova at the Fitzgerald Field House next weekend on Friday and Sunday.