No. 7 Pitt (20-3, ACC 11-1) sent its seniors out happy on senior day as it defeated Wake Forest (16-7, ACC 7-5) in a sweep, winning its 20th game of the season — head coach Dan Fisher’s ninth time reaching that mark in his 11 seasons at Pitt.
To first-year right side hitter Olivia Babcock, the most important part of the game was to get the seniors a win on senior day.
“We just wanted to make this game as memorable as we can,” Babcock said.
Winning on senior day makes the events after the game more enjoyable to Fisher.
“These are all great players and I think [a win] makes it a lot more festive for their families,” Fisher said. “So I’m glad we could get a win for their families on senior day.”
Wake Forest showed the Panthers that they were not going to surrender. The Demon Deacons had multiple kills off the Panthers block.
The first-years showed offense of their own with Babcock tallying two early kills. But with the Demon Deacons continuing to use the Panthers block to their advantage, Fisher called an early timeout with the Panthers, leading the Demon Deacons 7-6.
The Demon Deacons tied the game at nine a piece after the Fisher timeout. But Pitt did not look back after Wake Forest tied it up. The teams were a part of multiple rallies in which the Panthers won them all, causing a Wake Forest timeout with Pitt leading 14-10.
The Demon Deacons started clawing back into the game after Pitt started to pull away. The Panthers led 18-13 at a time, but couldn’t get out of their own way as they made three straight errors — one service error, one attacking error and an error on a serve receive. This caused Fisher to call his second timeout of the set with the Panthers leading 18-16.
The Panthers wouldn’t look back after Fisher used his second timeout, finishing the first set with a 25-19 victory. The first-years led the way in the first set as outside hitter Torrey Stafford had five kills on .417 hitting percentage and Babcock had six kills on a .357 hitting percentage.
Early involvement for the first-years is something that Babcock loves to have.
“I love it, it’s fun,” Babcock said. “I like to play volleyball, so however I can get engaged.”
As a team, the Panthers had 19 kills and a .341 hitting percentage in the first set. Defensively both junior libero Emmy Klika and graduate student defensive specialist Logan Mosely were vital in the Panthers success. Klika only had one dig in the first set, but covered multiple balls off the Demon Deacons block while Mosely added four digs.
Babcock began the second set just as she played in the first set, starting the set off with a kill then following it up with a solo block. Babcock’s early success caused an early timeout with Pitt leading 7-3.
The teams went back and forth after Pitt took the early advantage in the match. But the Panthers offense stepped up after the back-and-forth. Graduate student middle blocker Chiamaka Nwokolo added three kills, and the first-years still dominated by adding three more kills of their own. All of this caused the Demon Deacons to use their second timeout with Pitt leading 20-12.
The Panthers didn’t budge to this, and they finished the set in a 25-15 victory with junior setter Rachel Fairbanks ending the set on a service ace.
Both first-years added three kills in set two and senior outside hitter Valeria Vazquez Gomez also brought her kill tally up to seven. The Panthers hit .464 and added 15 kills in set two.
Pitt came out firing in the third set, and graduate student middle blocker Emm
a Monks had two early kills. The Demon Deacons struggled early, having two attacking errors in their first three attempts. The rough start led to a timeout, with Pitt up 4-1.
The Panthers and Demon Deacons once again would ensue in tons of back and forth, with no team going on a run longer than three points. The Panthers led 16-13 heading into the end of the set.
The Panthers started to take control after this because of four errors by Wake Forest, and Babcock and Vazquez Gomez added a kill apiece. This caused Wake Forest to call a timeout with Pitt leading 22-16.
To end the match, Babcock added two more kills, and Pitt won the third set 25-18, completing the sweep over Wake Forest.
The Panthers hit .483 in the third set and added 16 more kills. Babcock finished the match with 14 kills on .462 hitting percentage, while her first-year counterpart Stafford finished with 11 kills on .400 hitting percentage.
Along with the first-years shining, Fairbanks tallied a double-double with 33 assists and 11 digs, both team highs.
Setters often have much involvement on the defensive side of the ball, but it’s something that Fairbanks enjoys to help the team with.
“I love defense,” Fairbanks said. “It’s always a debate, do I like setting or hitting better, but honestly defense might be my favorite.”
Fairbanks is willing to dig and stay on defense rather than t
rying to cheat up and set every time. This versatility echoes how Fisher trains his players.
“One of the things that we are most proud of is how well rounded our players are,” Fisher said. “Our middles can set… our setters can do it all, we value the whole game.”
The Panthers head to Florida next weekend for two challenging ACC opponents. They face Florida State (16-8, ACC 10-2) at 6:30 p.m. on Friday then play Miami (15-7, ACC 8-4) at 1 p.m. on Sunday.
