Streak ends here: Hoyas stop Pitt

The Pitt women’s volleyball team split its Big East matches over the weekend against South… The Pitt women’s volleyball team split its Big East matches over the weekend against South Florida and Georgetown to move to 3-1 in the conference. The Panthers (10-8, 3-1) knocked off the Bulls on Saturday, 3-2, but dropped their first Big East match to the Hoyas on Sunday, 3-2, despite a season-high 23 team blocks. The loss to the Hoyas ended Pitt’s seven-match winning streak. Both matches stretched to five sets for the sixth time in the last seven matches. ‘ The Panthers also lost 2-0 leads in both matches. ‘Both of the matches we just came out and served well,’ said Pitt coach Toby Rens. ‘We beat Georgetown decisively in the first set, same thing with USF. But we really came out and were aggressive from start to finish in sets one and two.’ The Panthers continue their Big East schedule this weekend on the road at DePaul on Saturday and Notre Dame on Sunday. Pitt 3, USF 2 Sophomore Amy Town and senior captain Kelly Campbell paced the Panthers against USF. Town notched a double-double with a team-high 17 kills and 10 digs, while Campbell notched 16 kills and 13 digs. Town and Campbell again led the Panthers in kills against Georgetown, with 11 and 10. Inconsistency became an early theme of the weekend for the Panthers. ‘It has been our challenge all season,’ said Rens. ‘The longer we sustain our focus, the better off we are. The killer instinct is something we’re still working on.’ After tearing out to an early lead, two sets to none, Pitt allowed the Bulls to climb back and knot the score at two sets apiece. With the match tied at two in the decisive fifth set, the Panthers rolled to an early lead of 5-3. Campbell’s kill a few plays later put Pitt up, 8-5. The Panthers earned match point on an attack error by USF and won the match off another Bulls’ error. Senior Nicole Taurence led the Panthers with 34 assists, and junior Michelle Rossi added 18 digs. Georgetown 3, Pitt 2 The Hoyas played dead in the first two games at the hands of the Panthers, losing by the scores of 25-14 and 25-19. ‘We really started out well and were in control,’ said Rens. ‘But we just started playing more tentative as the match progressed, as if we were protecting a lead or the win or something.’ The Panthers lost their edge against the Hoyas in the next three games. With the score at 11-6 in the fifth set, Rens called a timeout. The Panthers responded by going on a 6-3 run to bring the score to 14-12. But a Meagan Dooley attack error gave the Hoyas the victory. ‘At times we’ve been really good with consistency,’ said Rens. ‘It has to start as an individual thing and people sustaining the focus. We definitely want to learn from what we went through this weekend. We beat the better of our two opponents on paper.’