Pitt volleyball wins its third straight five-set match against Louisville

Pitt fans don’t prefer games like Pitt volleyball’s Friday night matchup against Louisville, or at least their hearts don’t. The teams went back and forth, the officials spent multiple minutes reviewing vital challenge calls and the players mounted rallies spanning 30 seconds or longer and down to the fifth set. 

But did these fans expect anything different? Well, probably not based on past performances between these two. This is the third consecutive match between Pitt and Louisville that has gone to five sets. But Pitt has now won all three of those games, as Pitt won 3-2 on Friday night in the Petersen Events Center Petersen Events Center (25-21, 26-28, 25-17, 22-25, 15-12).

Head coach Dan Fisher, however, didn’t mind watching Pitt play its third consecutive five-set match against Louisville.

“I think this is the kind of game we needed,” Fisher said. “We haven’t been in these nailbiters much this season, so we will make adjustments and be better for it and I thought it was a great battle.”

Redshirt junior middle blocker Bre Kelley was the star for Pitt. on Friday, in her first game against Louisville, she finished with 12 kills — a career-high —  on 24 swings and a .500 hitting percentage. Defensively she tied career-high in blocks with 10. 

“Honestly, I just think our passers were doing their job,” Kelley said. “Rachel [Fairbanks] just feeding me the ball and once she saw that was consistent, she just kept on giving it to me and giving me great [sets] that I can kill. And we just kept it going.” 

The 24 swings were the most swings that Kelley has had all season long. It wasn’t Fisher demanding that Kelley earned more sets, as he trusted senior setter Rachel Fairbanks to make the correct plays.

“As much trust as I’ve ever had with a setter,” Fisher said. “There are times when I’ll get on her if I think something was tactically way off. But [she] understands the game really well. So we don’t tell her where to set.”

In the fifth set, to salt away another five-set victory against Louisville, sixth-year outside hitter Valeria Vazquez Gomez was the star.

“I thought Valeria’s defense in the fifth set was incredible,” Fisher said. “That was one of the big differences — she kept the ball alive when it got past the block.”

Sophomore right-side hitter Olivia Babcock had yet another impressive performance, finishing the game with 22 kills, a .327 hitting percentage and seven digs. But Babcock had a bad day from the service line with a season-high six errors.

First set: 

Pitt jumped on Louisville to start the match, hitting .429 and forcing the Cardinals to hit -.333 to start. Louisville head coach Dani Busboom Kelly didn’t like what she saw and called a timeout with her team trailing 9-3.

Kelly’s timeout didn’t work as she wanted it to, as Pitt took an even larger lead of 15-8, causing her to call the second Louisville timeout of the set. The Panthers largely dominated the first set. Louisville’s longest run was 3-0. Anytime the Cardinals started coming back the Panthers quickly stifled their hopes.  

Pitt won the first set 25-21 after Babcock earned seven kills on a .455 hitting percentage and Fairbanks dished out 12 assists. Sophomore outside hitter Torrey Stafford was also a big help on the defensive side of the ball, earning eight digs and helping Pitt hold Louisville to a .167 hitting percentage.

Second set: 

Louisville took its first lead of the game in the second set. An early .400 hitting percentage helped Louisville keep it, forcing a Pitt timeout while trailing 7-3.

The Cardinals kept on the pressure, eventually taking a 12-5 lead and forcing Fisher to call his second timeout of the set. Off the timeout, the Cardinals scored another point and took a commanding 13-5 lead, Fisher saw enough and put in sophomore outside hitter Blaire Bayless and senior setter Niza Buzlutepe to run a 6-2. 

Slowly, the Panthers clawed back into the set, giving Pitt fans hope. Eventually, it wasn’t just hope. Pitt tied the game at 20 apiece and took its first lead of the set, leading 24-23 — one point away from winning the second set and taking a 2-0 set lead.

But the Cardinals had other plans, as they won the 24-23 set point and eventually won the set 28-26 after the Panthers ended the set with two consecutive errors.

Third set:

Pitt took control of the third set to start things up, leading 14-10 with Stafford tallying five kills. But before the 15-point media timeout, the Cardinals went on a 3-1 run to tighten things up.

After the teams traded timeouts, bringing it to a 19-16 score, Pitt took over. The Panthers went on a 6-1 run to end the set. Kelley earned Pitt two points with a block and a kill and Vazquez Gomez chipped in as well tallying a kill and an ace. 

Fourth set:

Pitt and Louisville went back and forth at the start of the fourth set, tying the pair at 16 apiece. Louisville made the first move, going on a 6-2 run led by a block and a kill from graduate student outside hitter Anna DeBeer and two kills by senior outside hitter Charitie Luper. 

Babcock, however, wasn’t cool with letting the Cardinals take over the end of the fourth set as she earned back-to-back kills for the Panthers, forcing a timeout from Louisville. But DeBeer and Luper responded by tallying a kill each, helping the Cardinals win the fourth set 25-22.

Fifth set: 

Pitt took immediate control after Louisville committed four errors. Louisville then called a timeout after it fell behind 5-2. 

But the Cardinals got right back in it, as a block and a kill helped them trail by one. But Pitt once more took a three-point lead. Louisville trailed 10-7 and Kelly called the Cardinals second timeout of the set.

Off of Louisville’s timeout, the teams had two rallies that spanned longer than 30 seconds, showing the parity between the two teams. Pitt won one of the rallies, and Louisville won the other, but Pitt gave itself a 13-10 advantage. 

“It’s a relief,” Vazquez Gomez said on winning the long rallies. “Back in the huddle, we are like ‘ok. let’s take a breather, on to the next one,’”  

But winning the second of the two long rallies gave the Cardinals momentum and DeBeer responded with two blocks of her own, forcing a timeout from Fisher while his team only led 13-12.

The Cardinals’ momentum was stopped by Pitt’s timeout. Buzlutepe earned the last two assists of the match and Bayless earned a kill on the 14th point for Pitt. The two subs for Pitt’s 6-2 subs closed it out for Pitt, helping it win a much-needed match against another top team in the nation.

“I thought Nisa and Blaire gave us a lift. And again in the fifth, when we went back to it, I thought they both came in ready to help and scored some big time points,” Fisher said.

Next, Pitt hosts Notre Dame on Sunday at 1 p.m. in the Fitzgerald Field House. The game will air on ACCNX.