Pitt volleyball has had a very hectic offseason — there is no secret about it. It especially had a wild offseason at the outside hitter position. 

The team knew it was losing Valeria Vazquez Gomez to graduation well before the season started, but rising junior Torrey Stafford transferring to Texas and Samara Coleman leaving for TCU were both unexpected events.

And because of their departures, Pitt had to retool its lineup twice and was left with one outside hitter on its roster for a brief period — rising junior Blaire Bayless.  

Now, Pitt has two outside hitters on its roster, thanks to the commitment of redshirt sophomore Sophia Gregoire from Oregon, who Pitt had already “recruited heavily” out of high school. But two still isn’t enough outside hitters for the Panthers’ roster in 2025. 

“We are still trying to add at least one more [outside hitter] for next year,” Fisher said.

But where Pitt adds this next outside hitter is still unknown. 

Pitt could add a graduate student who can enter the transfer portal at any time or a player whose coach leaves the program — which is how Pitt acquired Gregoire, whose coach left to coach at Kansas. Pitt can also add someone who enters the transfer portal when it opens back up on May 1 and closes on May 15, or Fisher could recruit a player from another country. 

Fisher is “ready to move” if an international outside hitter who intrigues the staff pops up, but the staff is also waiting for May 1, when it’s time for the “second wave” of players to enter the transfer portal. 

The Panthers don’t plan on overreacting to add an outside hitter to their roster. Fisher believes his team could use an outside hitter for depth purposes, but also trusts that first-year middle blocker Abbey Emch, redshirt sophomore setter Haiti Tautua’a and incoming transfer redshirt senior Brooke Mosher can provide the Panthers some depth at the left pin. 

“We have some other options, but it’s not, it’s not ideal,” Fisher said. “There is a tendency to just want to fill a spot.” 

Former Pitt men’s basketball head coach Jamie Dixon taught Fisher the importance of persistence and patience with recruiting. Dixon would tell Fisher in his earlier years at Pitt that, “You are never done recruiting … you are always trying to upgrade your roster.” 

Dixon was different than other coaches in this philosophy. Other coaches would tell Fisher that they had finished a recruiting class, but because of Dixon, Fisher never was too quick to complete his roster. 

The former Pitt men’s basketball head coach’s advice to Fisher may have caused the Panthers to add Serena Gray and Bre Kelley in June and Leketor Member-Meneh in April — all of whom were late additions turned All-Americans.

But it’s not like recruiting is simple — although it’s probably easier when your team heads to four straight Final Fours. There are so many different things Fisher and his staff have to deal with while recruiting, despite the success his team has had.

“The hardest thing right now is trying to figure out how much time we should be spending in Europe versus here [in the United States and] working on the 2027 class,” Fisher said. “But I think everyone’s struggling with how to use their time now, with the prevalence of the [transfer] portal.”