Preview | Pitt volleyball looks to make history in pivotal matchup against No. 4 Louisville

No. 7 Pitt (22-4, 13-2 ACC) will try to break a Panther volleyball attendance record on Saturday at 1 p.m. in the Petersen Events Center when it faces off against ACC foe No. 4 Louisville (23-3, 14-2 ACC) in a rivalry matchup with conference title implications.

Pitt head coach Dan Fisher is excited with where the Panthers are coming into this highly anticipated matchup and believes that Pitt can control their own destiny. 

“We’re excited to be where we’re at at this point in the season,” Fisher said. “We’re in a position where we’re still battling to win the ACC. We’re in a position where we feel like we can get selected to host the NCAA tournament.”

For the Panthers to win the ACC regular season championship and host the NCAA Tournament until the Final Four, they need to beat a top five Louisville team that has the same exact aspirations. The Cardinals have had Pitt’s number as of recent, winning three straight matches in the rivalry.

The Cardinals earned its three-game winning streak over Pitt by dominating the Panthers at the service line and in serve receive. During the winning streak, the Cardinals have had 19 aces in the 11 sets played compared to the Panthers’ five aces.

Most recently, on Oct. 13, the Panthers had no aces, which allowed Louisville to stay in their offensive system throughout the game. On the other side of the net, Louisville had two aces and forced the Panthers out of their offensive system throughout the match.

Fisher believes the reason the Cardinals have such a strong attack from the service line is because all six of their servers are skilled and willing to take risks.

“They have six really good servers,“ Fisher said. “And I’d say philosophically they are not afraid to make a mistake. There’s certain sets that really hurt them and there’s certain sets where it helps them win it.” 

In this top 10 match, Fisher is intrigued by how the two teams will fare from the service line and is confident in his team based on how well they played against No. 9 Georgia Tech, who is second in the ACC in aces per set.

“That will be an interesting storyline to see how the serve-pass battle goes,“ Fisher said. “We’re coming off a game against Georgia Tech where we were just really superior in that category. We passed as well as we’ve passed all year and served pretty well too.”

The Cardinals also hit .388 against Pitt in their last matchup, which was uncharacteristic for the Panthers’ defense — they allow the second-lowest hitting percentage in the country, only behind No. 1 ranked Nebraska.

When asked about the Panthers’ loss to Louisville on Oct. 13, Fisher talked about how Pitt’s defense struggled against the Louisville attack.

“We let them hit close to .400,” Fisher said. “Something we’ve prided ourselves on this year is being a really good defensive team and we didn’t do enough to make them uncomfortable.”

Along with Louisville’s .388 hitting percentage, the Cardinals also out-blocked the Panthers six to three — another uncharacteristic thing for Pitt, who leads the NCAA in blocks per set with 3.05. 

To Fisher, the blocking statistic doesn’t mean that much for individual games — he mainly focuses on the hitting percentage Pitt allows, but still prefers to excel in the blocking aspect. 

“On an individual game, I don’t totally worry about blocks or digs,” Fisher said. “The thing that we look at is the overall hitting percentage of who we are playing. But yes, we would like to have a good blocking game.” 

In the stands on Saturday afternoon, the Panthers are expecting to have a record-setting crowd that could help give Pitt an advantage. During the Oct. 13 game, the Cardinals had 11,461 fans in attendance, which helped boost Louisville in their sweep over the Panthers. 

Fisher is hoping for the same type of crowd in the Petersen Events Center on Saturday and believes Pitt fans can play a major role in the momentum of the game.

“[Volleyball] is a game of momentum, and you see it all the time,“ Fisher said. “You see teams go on 7-0 runs or times where the opponent feels like they can’t get out of a rotation. And I think a great crowd can play a big part in that.”

The potentially record-setting crowd at the Petersen Events Center can expect to see a Pitt team that Fisher believes is better than it was the last time the Panthers matched up with the Cardinals. 

“I think there was a level of they played great and we could have played a little bit better the first time around,” Fisher said. 

Saturday’s pivotal matchup — with multiple regular season and postseason implications — is a game the Panthers and Fisher have anticipated since the beginning of the season. 

“This is one of the games that they kind of look at all year long,” Fisher said. “And we’d be lying if we said it wasn’t a special game.”