Pitt volleyball senior right-side hitter Olivia Babcock has added another prestigious honor to her decorated collegiate résumé.
The Atlantic Coast Conference announced Wednesday that Babcock earned the 2026 Mary Garber Award for the ACC’s most outstanding female athlete, becoming only the second Pitt athlete and first female Panther to earn the distinction. Babcock was awarded ACC Female Athlete of the Year alongside Duke basketball’s forward Cameron Boozer, who was named the ACC Male Athlete of the Year.
“Olivia and Cameron each had tremendous seasons and are very deserving of these awards,” ACC Commissioner Jim Phillips, Ph.D. said in a statement announcing this year’s honorees. “They have represented this conference well and performed at historic levels while leading their teams with character and poise. We commend them on their fantastic seasons and are extremely proud of them.”
Pitt Athletics was unavailable to comment Wednesday.
Babcock makes history as the first volleyball player to earn the award and joins Pitt football quarterback Kenny Pickett as the only other Pitt athlete to win ACC Athlete of the Year. Pickett won the award back in 2022. She cruised to the win, earning 15 votes to top Florida State track and field’s Shenese Walker and Virginia swimming’s Claire Curzan.
The accolade is the latest in a dominant year on the court for Babcock. The face of Pitt’s volleyball program, Babcock’s junior season saw her become just the fifth volleyball player to win AVCA National Player of the Year in back-to-back years, as well as claiming ACC Player of the Year, First Team All-ACC and First Team All-American honors, among others.
Babcock set Pitt volleyball’s single-season kills record with 646, including setting a new single-game kills record for the school twice last year. Babcock first set the new record with 41 kills against No. 4 Louisville, before breaking it herself with a 45-kill performance against No. 21 North Carolina. It marked the second time in the 2025 campaign she had set a new Pitt record and put her atop the Pitt charts.
The Sierra Canyon High School product led Pitt in all attacking stats and was a driving force behind her team’s fifth-straight final four appearance and their chase for a national title. In her team’s final game of the season, Babcock recorded a team-high 22 kills and six blocks to go along with a .463 hitting percentage.
One of the best players in the nation, Babcock finished top-five nationally in total kills, total points, kills per set and points per set. Her 646 kills and 746.5 points were both second in the country, while her 5.97 points per set ranked fourth, and her 5.17 kills per set was good for a fifth-place finish.