No. 8 Pitt volleyball takes down High Point

No. 8 Pitt volleyball (8-2, 0-0) closed out their stretch of three games in four days with a sweep over High Point (6-6, 0-0). Pitt finished the weekend with a record of 2-1.

High Point wasn’t any small task for Pitt. Pitt had to face High Point senior outside hitter Dylan Maberry, one of the best players in the country. Maberry ranks No. 11 in the country in kills and in the top 50 in the country for kills per set.

Pitt head coach Dan Fisher knew what was coming with playing against High Point’s leading attacker.

“We knew she was a strong attacker,” Fisher said. “And felt pretty good how we went to line up against her, but certainly knew we wouldn’t stop her.”

Pitt started the first set rough with two attacking errors and Maberry capitalized, getting two kills that gave High Point an early 6-3 lead and an early Fisher timeout. 

Outside of the early Fisher timeout, the game was riddled by errors for both Pitt and High Point and another kill by Maberry, which led to Fisher using the last of his two timeouts with High Point leading 10-6.

Later in the set, Pitt finally started a mini run, which forced High Point to use a timeout of their own with the score of 13-11, High Point still leading.

Off of the High Point timeout, Pitt and High Point went back and forth, with Maberry still asserting her dominance with one more kill of her own. But first-year Pitt outside hitter Torrey Stafford showed off her own dominance with two straight aces on High Point, giving Pitt a 20-18 lead and garnering a High Point timeout.

Out of the timeout, Pitt immediately took over the closing points of the set with two straight kills for redshirt senior Valeria Vazquez Gomez. The Panthers finished out the set on a 5-2 run — despite another kill for Maberry — winning the first set with a score of 25-20.

It felt like groundhog day for both High Point and Pitt, with Maberry adding two more kills for High Point, once again helping them get out to an early 6-3 lead that led to another early Fisher timeout. 

Unlike the first set, Pitt responded to the early High Point run. From here on, Pitt didn’t allow any more Maberry kills and started rallying off kills from every position from the front row. 

After Pitt tied the game up, the game went back and forth again. But Pitt took control, causing a High Point timeout after an impressive block from first-year right side hitter Olivia Babcock and sophomore middle blocker Rachel Jepsen giving Pitt the 15-14 lead. 

Pitt finished the set with great production from every hitter. The team combined for seven kills and two blocks which helped them finish on a 10-4 run and winning set two 25-18. 

The third set started out differently than the first two. This time, Pitt started with a 4-1 lead and High Point head coach Ryan Meek used one of his challenges as a timeout. But this tactic didn’t work, because Meek used another timeout after the Panthers extended their lead to five. 

After that, High Point tried to do everything they could to stop the Panthers, but nothing would work for them. Pitt dominated the third set while High Point reeled.  

Pitt figured out everything that High Point tried to throw at them in the third set. High Point found multiple hole shots on tips over the blockers in the first two sets, but High Point had hardly any luck continuing that as Pitt covered that shot throughout the third set.

High Point’s hope of a comeback in the third set dwindled, as they struggled with Pitt’s serves. From the service line Pitt had five aces in the third set, four of those coming from freshmen Babcock and Stafford. 

Pitt finished the third set with a score of 25-12, finishing the sweep and giving Fisher something to say he’s proud of. 

“I like how we played in the last set,” Fisher said. “But the first set and a half I thought we were pretty flat, but it’s certainly better to finish strong.”

The Panthers stay at home this week to play UMBC (6-4, 0-0) on Wednesday night at 5:00 p.m. at the Fitzgerald Field House.