Pitt volleyball advances to Sweet Sixteen after sweep of Oklahoma

Pitt took care of business on Saturday night, sweeping Oklahoma (28-26, 25-21, 25-19). The Panthers weren’t at their best against the Sooners, but they still pushed through, earning Pitt its fifth consecutive Sweet Sixteen berth. 

“We found a way to win when we weren’t totally feeling our best,” head coach Dan Fisher said. “So I’m really proud of this group.”

Sophomore opposite hitter Olivia Babcock led the match in kills with 13 but she clearly wasn’t at her best as she hit .139.

Sixth-year outside hitter Valeria Vazquez Gomez tallied 10 kills on the night with a .238 hitting percentage.  

“Valeria is very reliable,” senior setter Rachel Fairbanks said. “Even though she’s not like touching the highest like Liv and Torrey, and she’s just, like, super consistent, always finding solutions. She’s a utility player and very reliable.”

Sophomore outside hitter Torrey Stafford tabbed 10 kills on the night also, while hitting .214. Stafford’s .214 hitting percentage was the third-worst hitting percentage the Torrance, California native has had all season long.

“We are just so used to Torrey putting up unrealistic numbers,” head coach Dan Fisher said. “I still think she had a good offensive night, all things considered.”

First Set:

Pitt took an early 13-7 lead to start the match, but this run was short-lived, as the Sooners made a comeback later in the set. 

Oklahoma earned six blocks in the first set, four coming from graduate student middle blocker Lydia Martyn. Some of Pitt’s prior competitors have barely managed more than six blocks per game, let alone in the first set. The Sooners held the Panthers to a .216 hitting percentage in the first set. 

“We weren’t playing our cleanest,” Fisher said. “But we kept just fighting and finding ways to get better as we went on.”

Fisher used all but one of his challenges in the first set, with the first getting overturned in Pitt’s favor, but Fisher lost his first challenge call the second time he challenged. Then, the third time he used his challenge card, Pitt won the set because of it.

With a timeout called at 24-24, both teams were feeling the pressure, and a kill from first-year outside hitter Kamille Gibson allowed the Sooners to pull ahead to 25-24. The Panthers went on a 4-1 run to close out the set. 

A kill from sophomore outside hitter Torrey Stafford tied the score at 26-26 apiece, then a block from redshirt junior middle blocker Bre Kelley put the team in set-point territory at 27-26 and a kill from sixth-year outside hitter Valeria Vasquez Gomez sealed the deal for a narrow Panther victory. Vazquez Gomez had five kills on six swings in the first set, ending the set with a .667 hitting percentage. 

Second Set:

Even after losing the emotional first set, the Sooners stayed with the Panthers at the beginning of the second set, knotting the game up at 13 apiece. But the Panthers’ stars separated the two teams with Stafford earning two kills and Babcock adding one to her name as the Panthers led 16-13, forcing an Oklahoma timeout.

The Sooners responded out of the timeout, going on a 2-0 run, but an attack error by Gibson sent Babcock to the service line. Babcock aced the Sooners once and forced Oklahoma to make an errant pass on her second serve, forcing another attacking error from Gibson. 

Oklahoma called its second and final timeout of the set, but the Panthers’ four-point advantage was enough for them to finish the set out and win 25-21. 

Pitt hit .265 in the second set, still not to its standard of .339, but much more respectable than its .205 in the first set. Oklahoma hit .188 in the set, .049 less than its first set output.

Third Set:

Pitt was noticeably in control in the third set, eventually winning 25-19. After much back and forth early on in the set, the Panthers eventually pulled ahead at 17-13 and continued their domination all the way through. 

Pitt finished out the last set with a .310 hitting percentage, holding Oklahoma to only .183. Sophomore right-side hitter Olivia Babcock had six kills in the third set with her final kill coming off of an assist from senior setter Rachel Fairbanks, cementing a Panther victory. 

Next, the Panthers host No. 4 seed Oregon in the Sweet Sixteen for the Petersen Events Center. But the date and time are still TBD.

“We’re just playing every game like they might be our last,” Vazquez Gomez said. “We’re just playing with gratitude. We know next week is going to be really tough, but we do have the advantage of being at home.”