Preview | Pitt volleyball heads south for two road ACC contests against FSU, Miami

No. 6 Pitt volleyball (20-3, ACC 11-1) heads to Florida this weekend for two crucial matchups against top five ACC opponents. The Panthers play Florida State (16-8, ACC 10-2) on Friday night at 6:30 p.m., then go to Coral Gables to face Miami (15-7, ACC 8-4) on Sunday afternoon at 1 p.m. 

Head coach Dan Fisher is looking forward to the tough tasks that lie ahead this weekend.

“I’m really looking forward to it because it’s going to be hard to get two wins,” Fisher said. “They both are very good teams.” 

Florida State

The Seminoles have shown to be no easy out, as their 10-2 record in the ACC proves. They play an even tougher game when facing opposing teams at home in Tallahassee. The Seminoles have gone 5-0 at home in ACC play, and the Panthers look to ruin that unbeaten home record like they did against NC State two weeks ago.

Like the Panthers, the Seminoles dominate on offense and have a hitting percentage ranking in the top of the ACC. The Seminoles have posted a .308 hitting percentage, which ranks second in the ACC and fourth in all of Division I.

Florida State’s dominant hitting percentage comes from their junior middle blockers Khori Louis and Kiari Robey. Louis has posted a blistering .437 hitting percentage on 192 kills, ranking sixth in the nation. And Robey, not too far behind, has posted a .421 hitting percentage on 186 kills.

But the real star of the show for the Seminoles is junior outside hitter Audrey Koenig. The two-time ACC Player of the Week has shined throughout the season for the Seminoles. Koenig leads the Seminoles in kills with 275 and has a .327 hitting percentage. The junior outside hitter showed as a stellar defender for Florida State with her adding 207 digs, second on the team. 

Florida State has a great offense, but it lacks on the defensive end. The Seminoles have allowed the most kills per set in the ACC with 13.17 while allowing the second worst hitting percentage in the ACC with .231.

Last weekend, Louisville exposed the porous Seminoles defense to their advantage in a sweep. The Cardinals hit .280 overall and hit well above .300 in the final two sets.

Louisville’s offense exposing the Seminoles defense last weekend showed that Pitt can do the same against Florida State. Pitt’s No. 1 ranked hitting percentage of .315 will prove vital against the subpar Seminoles defense. 

The biggest matchup of the Panthers and Seminoles is the matchup of middle blockers. The Seminoles love to run through their middle blockers, and they will have to hit around graduate student middle blockers Emma Monks and Chiamaka Nwokolo, both top 15 in the nation in blocks per set. Florida State allows the fewest blocks per set in the ACC, but the Panthers force the most blocks per set in the country.

Miami 

The Hurricanes play solid throughout the floor. They have one of the best setters in the ACC with fifth-year Savannah Vach as well as two young and talented outside hitters, and the Hurricanes play well from the service line.

Vach leads the ACC in assists per set with 10.55, while tallying a total of 876 assists and leads Miami in digs with 186 — a remarkable feat for a setter. Vach has added 42 blocks to her loaded stat sheet. The fifth-year has won four ACC Setter of the Week awards this season and is the leader of this young Miami team.

The two talented players that have helped Vach lead the ACC in assists per set are first-year outside hitter Grace Lopez and sophomore outside hitter Flormarie Heredia Colon. 

Lopez, the leader in kills for the Hurricanes, has totaled 256 kills with a hitting percentage of .243 and defensively has added 124 digs and 22 blocks. The first-year won an ACC Freshman of the Week award this season, getting in the way of the Panthers first-years’ reign of winning the award seven out of ten weeks. 

Heredia Colon, second in kills for Miami, has 253 kills while having a hitting percentage of .216 and defensively has added 143 digs and 35 blocks for the Hurricanes.

Miami especially excels at frustrating teams from the service line. The Hurricanes have four players that have over 20 aces on the season. This has helped Miami average 1.72 aces per set, second most in the ACC behind Louisville.

The biggest x-factor in Miami vs. Pitt is when the Panthers are in serve receive. The Panthers are the most efficient team in the nation when in system, but when they become out-of-system, their efficiency dwindles. Against Louisville, Pitt struggled when playing out-of-system. Since then, the Panthers’ serve receive has improved.

Overall, the trip to Florida is a trip that Fisher is excited to go on. He thinks it will help Pitt prepare for the postseason.

“It’s the kind of trip that’s really going to prepare us if we need to be on the road in the tournament,” Fisher said.