Pitt volleyball prepares for West Coast test, with two players at their best

No. 3 Pitt volleyball has another crucial West Coast trip this week, where the elite-ranked Panthers will face No. 20 USC in Los Angeles on Wednesday night, West Coast Conference preseason-favorite Pepperdine on Friday night in Malibu and UC Santa Barbara on Saturday night, also on Pepperdine’s campus. 

On this trip, it’s in the best interest of the Panthers that both sophomore outside hitter Torrey Stafford and senior libero Emmy Klika continue with their exceptional play.

Offseason injury improved Stafford’s game

Stafford has played phenomenally for the Panthers to start the season. Through Pitt’s first three games, Stafford leads the Panthers with 32 kills and has hit at an insane .382 clip in her seven sets played — over .100 better than her .273 hitting percentage in 2023.

The outside hitter wasn’t expected to have this hot of a start to her sophomore season. Quite the opposite was expected, since she had surgery in February to remove a benign tumor from her left leg.

But the offseason surgery, believe it or not, gave Stafford an advantage. 

The Torrance, California, native used to suffer from shin splints in her left leg. Now, with a rod in that leg because of the surgery, the shin splints have faded away. Stafford lands more confidently on her left leg than ever. 

Along with the pain fading, the surgery allowed Stafford to watch volleyball in an entirely different way than she was used to.

“The surgery allowed me to be off in the spring and learn new things from the coaches,” Stafford said. “I came back with a different perspective on the game.”

The new knowledge has let Stafford dominate in practice and games.

“There’s hardly been a practice where she’s been below .300,” Fisher said. “She’s been absolutely dominant. Her passing improved. Her servings improved. She’s on a mission, and it’s fun to watch.”

Klika is still underrated and still dominating

Like Stafford, Klika has dominated to start the season. In Pitt’s three contests, she was served 41 times and hasn’t made a single error. This is complete domination. She ranked as the best-receiving libero/defensive specialist according to Avid Volley in week one, and that stayed true for week two against Buffalo.

Klika, in 2023, was served 460 times and she made an error 24 times, which are still great numbers, but the start of Klika’s 2024 campaign is remarkable. It made Fisher not even consider using the new double libero rule to sub out Klika because she is “so dominant.”

The senior’s hot start has possibly made some preseason All-ACC team voters wonder why they didn’t put the senior libero on their ballot, which Klika used as motivation coming into the season.

“Going into the season with that underdog mentality,” Klika said. “I would say [it made me] more motivated and ready to go out there and prove people wrong.”

Crucial West Coast trip

Pitt coming out 3-0 on this road trip would look fantastic on the Panthers’ resume come late November, when it’s time for the Selection Committee to select the top four teams that host games until the Final Four.

“I’m definitely excited to play high-caliber teams,” Fisher said. “We think Pepperdine and USC have chances to be resume wins. So it wasn’t necessarily the original plan to go out there twice, but it was the best competition we could get.”

Pitt fans can catch the first West Coast test against USC on Wednesday at 9 p.m. The game will air on Big Ten Network.