Pitt defeats Youngstown State

The Pitt women’s volleyball team beat Youngstown State at the Fitzgerald Field House Tuesday… The Pitt women’s volleyball team beat Youngstown State at the Fitzgerald Field House Tuesday night, 3-1, to avoid a potential letdown loss and springboard the team into its rivalry match on Friday against West Virginia. Senior Kelly Campbell, named the Big East Player of the Week for her effort in last weekend’s two-game sweep, led all players with a season-high 26 kills and added 14 digs for her ninth double-double of the season. Campbell tallied 38 kills over the weekend and leads the team with 103 in conference play. She led the Panthers (13-8, 5-1) with 22 kills in a 3-1 win against Notre Dame on Sunday and 16 kills against DePaul Saturday. ‘It was great,’ said Campbell of receiving the honor. It was Campbell’s first time being named Big East Player of the Week. Coach Toby Rens lauded Campbell’s achievements as well. ‘Kelly was outstanding over the weekend and probably better tonight,’ said Rens. ‘She hit .490 for the match, and that’s exceptional, especially being a middle-hitter and often facing a double block.’ Senior Jessica Moses added to Campbell’s double-digit kill count with 12, along with junior Meagan Dooley with 11 and sophomore Amy Town with 14. Pitt won the close-fought match against Youngstown State, overcoming a different style of play than usual. ‘This team is a very different style than we’re accustomed to in our Big East games,’ said Rens. ‘They tend to exploit the corners and throw a lot more, and we had trouble adjusting to that at first.’ The women’s volleyball team’s rendition of the Backyard Brawl kicks off this Friday at 7 p.m. at the Fitzgerald Field House. The win would extend Pitt’s slim lead in the Big East against a Mountaineers squad that is winless in the Big East so far. ‘We certainly have to come to play, it’s a big rivalry and a conference match,’ said Rens. ‘It’s all about being one win closer to winning the regular-season championship and qualifying for the conference tournament.’ Campbell agreed with her coach. ‘We want to be the hardest working team in the Big East,’ said Campbell. ‘If we accomplish that goal, it will put us in good position to contend for the Big East regular-season championship, qualifying for the Big East tournament and then the NCAA Tournament.’ The Panthers won their match with scores of 25-21, 25-19 and 25-23, losing the third set, 22-25. The Penguins tied the score at 13 in the fourth and final set. The Panthers used a 4-2 run capped by a Youngstown tip to make the score 19-15 and force a Penguins timeout. Campbell recorded her second ace of the match out of the timeout. Later, Campbell recorded the final two kills to give the Panthers a 25-21 victory in the game and a 3-1 victory in the match. Unlike the majority of Pitt’s matches this year, it was outblocked, 11-4. Campbell admitted the new system implemented by Rens at the beginning of the year might be finally clicking into gear.