Pitt volleyball heads to fifth consecutive Elite Eight.

Pitt volleyball is elite. 

Pitt fans already knew that, but it proved it a fact against Oregon, beating the Ducks in five sets and advancing to the team’s fifth consecutive Elite Eight. 

“This is the NCAA tournament,” head coach Dan Fisher said. “It’s going to be tough. It’s going to be ugly at times, and sometimes you need your B and C game and just an incredible gritty effort by our team to find a way to persevere when it wasn’t always going our way.”

Sophomore opposite hitter Olivia Babcock garnered a career-high 69 total attempts. But she was efficient and Elite, tallying 31 total kills and a .290 hitting percentage. Babcock’s 31 kills is a Pitt NCAA tournament record and tied for the seventh most kills in Pitt program history for any game. 

“We’re a team full of great players, and when Liv is adding to that greatness, it’s just unstoppable,” senior setter Rachel Fairbanks.

Fairbanks also dominated, tallying 54 assists for the Panthers which is the second-most assists in an NCAA Tournament game in Pitt history.

First set

Pitt’s fast start to the first set made it easy for the Panthers to escape with a 25-19 win. The Panthers got out to a 13-6 advantage, and despite allowing multiple 3-0 runs from Oregon, Fisher’s team always responded coming out of a timeout.

Babcock earned both of the Pitt’s kills after a timeout. In the first set, Babcock earned seven kills and hit .500. One of Babcock’s seven kills came whenever she still had two of her knees on the ground.

Defensively, Pitt held Oregon to a .069 hitting percentage, and the Panthers offense hit .294 as a team in the first set — better than the hitting percentage Pitt had against its first and second round opponents. 

Second set

Oregon came out firing on all cylinders in the second set, taking an early 4-0 advantage. But the Panthers got back in it and trailed by only one at the 7-6 point, but another 4-0 run by Oregon helped it stretch out its lead. 

Pitt, once more, tightened things up trailing 15-13, but another 3-0 run from Oregon helped it take another five-point lead in the set.

Trailing 18-13, the Panthers went on an 11-5 run to take their first lead of the set and give Pitt set point at 24-23. But Oregon responded, winning the second set 26-24. 

Pitt struggled in serve-receive in the second set, allowing four aces. Pitt also hit much worse in the second set — .149. Oregon improved from its first set hitting percentage, but not by much as it hit .111 in the second set.

Third set

Oregon took an early 7-4 lead in the third set, looking to replicate what it did in the second set. Fisher, not wanting to repeat what he saw, called a timeout and his team did not look back. 

The Panthers went on a 14-4 run, making the Ducks use both of their timeouts. Babcock added seven kills in the set and redshirt junior middle blocker Bre Kelley tallied six kills herself. 

Pitt hit the best it had of any set this postseason, a blazing .464 hitting percentage. Oregon hit well in the set too, it hit .269 in the set. The Panthers’ superior hitting percentage and response after Fisher’s timeout, helped Pitt win the third set 25-16.

Fourth set

The Ducks started the set out dominating Pitt, forcing Fisher to call both of his timeouts early with his team trailing 12-5. Oregon would only extend on this lead, taking a dominating 17-6 lead.

But Fisher still believed in his team to come back from the 11-point deficit.

“At that point, it was like 6-17, or something. And I said [to associate head coach Kellen Petrone], ‘But, but we’re gonna come back in this set,’” Fisher said. “That might have been kind of a silly thought, but we almost did.”

The Panthers clawed back trailing 23-20, but the previous 11-point lead from the Ducks was too steep of a hill to climb as Oregon won the set 25-21. In the set, Oregon hit .261 and Pitt hit just .001 at .262.

Fifth set

Pitt started out the set the best it had since the first set – a 5-0 start with a kill from Babcock and an ace from sixth-year outside hitter Valeria Vazquez Gomez. Vazquez Gomez also forced multiple errors from the Ducks with her float serve. 

But Oregon wasn’t going down that easily, it responded with a 8-3 run to knot things up at eight a piece. And after the teams went back and forth scoring points on one another it was time for someone to take over. 

Babcock took the role, earning two kills — one from the back row and one from the right pin. Babcock forced Oregon to use its last timeout of the match. 

After the timeout, Babcock still came in and earned another to the collection of 30 kills she already had on the night. 

“Honestly, I always have 100% confidence in Liv to get the job done,” Fairbanks said.

After an ace by Fairbanks, Pitt earned match point. Pitt fans had to wait a little longer after Oregon had a 3-0 run, but Pitt then closed the match out and won the fifth set 15-12.

“It’s just one more feather in our cap of knowing that we can be in those tight moments and we can be down,” Fisher said “… You can’t just be a team that can play when they’re up that doesn’t work at this level anymore. There’s eight teams left.”

Pitt’s next challenge against one of the final eight is against Kentucky on Saturday at 5 p.m. airing on ESPN 2 with a chance to advance to the Panthers’ fourth consecutive Final Four.