Pitt volleyball bounces back by dominating Stanford and Cal

No. 5 Stanford is the cream of the crop for collegiate women’s volleyball. It has nine national championships — the most in collegiate volleyball — and only missed one NCAA Tournament since 1981. 

The pressure of playing a historic juggernaut of this magnitude didn’t matter one single bit to No. 1 Pitt, sweeping the prestigious Cardinal (25-17, 25-16, 25-20). 

“It was a big win for our program, and we have tremendous respect for Stanford,” Pitt head coach Dan Fisher said. “They’ve led the way in our sport for many years, and we knew they’d be tough tonight, and I thought there [were] a few areas that we were a little bit below our standards.”

A win against this good of an opponent isn’t just something to gloss over. Pitt didn’t just eek past Stanford in a five-set match — Pitt dominated every single set. The most the Cardinal scored was 20 points in the third set, still five points behind the No. 1 ranked team.

The highest hitting percentage Stanford had in a set was .133 in the final set. At times, late into sets, Pitt doubled up the outmatched and outclassed Cardinal, leading 20-10 in the second set.

Doubling up opponents is a new normal for the juggernaut that is Pitt volleyball this season. Pitt had more than double the points Cal earned in every single set on Friday — the most it scored was 12 points in the first set.

Cal and Stanford came into the Fitzgerald Field House on the wrong weekend — they faced an angry Pitt team out for redemption. Pitt lost its first match of the year against No. 12 SMU last weekend, and it clearly had a point to prove.

“I think a couple days after the loss, we kind of let it, like, affect us a little bit too much,” senior setter Rachel Fairbanks said. “After a couple days, we really locked in, and I think used it to our advantage, mostly just, like, giving full effort 100% of the time.”

Fairbanks had the worst performance of her senior season in Dallas against SMU. The Tustin, California, native had the second-least assists per set of her season, led Pitt to its lowest hitting percentage of the year and tied for the most serving errors she has committed in a match.

“She was frustrated with how she played the last game,” Fisher said. “And like any great player, that motivates them, and specifically, I know that she didn’t think she served well. Clearly, she did that well, and then she also really made it a point in practice.”

Every issue that Fairbanks had against SMU was solved this weekend. 

The setter led her team to a hitting percentage of .430 against Cal and .314 against Stanford, both significantly better than the season-low .218 hitting percentage against SMU. 

Fairbanks didn’t make a single service error either, after she committed four in her 14 serves against the Mustangs. This weekend, she served the ball 39 times, didn’t make a single service error and aced the opponent six times, including five against Cal. 

The 2023 ACC Setter of the Year showed why she earned that prestigious award with 63 assists over the weekend — 28 against Cal and 35 against Stanford, good for 10.5 assists per set — far better than the 8.6 assists per set she had last weekend. 

“My job as a setter, I say this a lot, but, like, our hitters make it so easy for me,” Fairbanks said. “100% of the time, I have everyone available and everybody wanting the ball — I feel like I can’t go wrong.”

Sophomore right-side hitter Olivia Babcock was Fairbanks’ favorite option this weekend, getting set 62 times — 16 more times than sophomore outside hitter Torrey Stafford, who garnered the second-most sets on the team. 

Last weekend, Babcock also earned a bulk of Pitt’s swings, as she had in the majority of the games this season. But, like Fairbanks, she struggled. Babcock had her second-worst hitting percentage of her season, including 14 errors.

“[Fairbanks and Babcock] weren’t very happy with the connection a couple of games ago and really been working hard on their timing in practice,” Fisher said. “And I think all that hard work paid off tonight.”

In just one more set played this weekend, Babcock had nine fewer hitting errors and 17 more kills. Babcock also had a season-high .577 hitting percentage against Cal and followed that up with a .361 hitting percentage against the No. 5 team in the country. 

When both Fairbanks and Babcock are on, Pitt is next to unstoppable. A sweep of the No. 5 team in the country in Stanford and doubling up an average ACC team in Cal feels expected at this point. Stafford, a possible AVCA National Player of the Year, wasn’t even at the top of her game this weekend, but the Panthers had two players who also could win this prestigious honor at the top of their games, seeking revenge.