Volleyball: Panthers sweep DePaul after tough loss against Notre Dame

The Pitt women’s volleyball team found itself in a dogfight in its opening game.

The Panthers led Notre Dame 24-21 in the first set of Saturday’s match after breaking away from dead-even play leading up to that point.

All Pitt needed was one point to secure a win over the No. 16-ranked Irish.

But the Panthers spoiled two chances and were deadlocked with the Irish for five more points before losing the set 32-30.

The Panthers held set point six times in the opening set before losing both that set and the match to the Irish 3-0. But Pitt did not lose a set by more than four points throughout the match.

“It was disappointing that we couldn’t take the first set from them,” Pitt head coach Toby Rens said. “That would’ve certainly changed the tone of the rest of the match.”

Junior Amy Town led the Panthers against the Irish, notching a double-double on the day with 13 kills and 15 digs.

Town also led the Panthers and a crowd of 1,123, most of which donned white shirts for a White Out promotion, in singing the national anthem before the game.

Senior Meagan Dooley contributed 10 kills and four blocks to the game, while junior Imani Harper added eight kills and three blocks.

A win against the Irish would have put Pitt in a tie atop the conference standings. The Panthers (14-8 overall, 6-2 Big East) now sit alone at fourth place.

“It was a pretty good match — lots of high-level volleyball, just not the outcome we wanted,” Rens said. “[The Irish] are well-deserving of the success they have had. They have a lot of experience on the court with six seniors that have all been starting for a couple years.”

Rens said Notre Dame came through in the clutch points to defeat the Panthers.

“They’re a very good team, and they earned it,” he said. “But I think we made good progress, considering Notre Dame is returning five starters and a libero from last year, and we lost five seniors and four starters at that.”

The Panthers rebounded from a loss to Notre Dame to sweep DePaul 3-0 Sunday.

Town again led the Panthers with 13 kills, while Dooley tallied 12 kills and three blocks.

It was the Panthers’ turn to lead DePaul in the opening set of the game, in which they won 25-23.

The opening game put the Panthers on the winning track.

“That was good to see the turnaround after a big match like Notre Dame,” Rens said, “We came back and we were in complete control, definitely in the second and third sets.”

Rens said it took poise for the Panthers to bounce back against DePaul.

“I thought we did a really good job of taking care of things on our side of the net, playing good defensively,” Rens said.

The Panthers, who are in the middle of a rare three-game homestand, will face off against West Virginia (13-10, 3-5) Friday in the volleyball version of the Backyard Brawl.

“[West Virginia] is having a great season,” Rens said. “It’s nice knowing we’re going to be home again, and it will be a little different preparing for one match this week instead of two. We’ll have more time to focus on game preparation.”