Struggles continue for volleyball in L.A.

The Pitt women’s volleyball team’s struggles continued this weekend in Los Angeles, Calif. The… The Pitt women’s volleyball team’s struggles continued this weekend in Los Angeles, Calif. The Panthers (3-8) did not win a single set during the Sheraton Four Points LAX/Loyola Marymount University Volleyball Classic, losing 3-0 to host Loyola Marymount, UC Irvine and San Jose State. ‘There’s no doubt it’s frustrating, [but] we were up against very good competition,’ said head coach Toby Rens of the three tournament losses. ‘Loyola Marymount and UC Irvine will most likely be in the NCAA Tournament this year. Our biggest challenge remains that we are implementing new things and playing a different style than what we’ve been playing in the past. We’re trying to do that under the pressure of a match situation.’ Rens said that a five-hour flight the day before the match, coupled with the most difficult schedule of the four tournament teams, took a toll on the Panthers. Pitt will look to end its five-match losing streak tonight at 7 at Robert Morris, then again this weekend in the annual Pitt Classic, hosted at the Fitzgerald Field House. Pitt hosts VCU, Gonzaga and Eastern Michigan with the games starting at 10:30 a.m. on Friday. ‘We have the ability to play much faster than Robert Morris offensively. Our game-plan is going to be to play fast and push the tempo of the match,’ said Rens. ‘As far as the tournament, the field is very competitive. All three of teams are off to decent starts. VCU in particular has some pretty talented kids that are very athletic.’ Rens did take some positives out of the three losses in last weekend’s tournament. ‘Senior Jessica Moses played very consistently throughout the weekend, and Nicole Tourence set a great match against UC Irvine. She was sort of like the quarterback for our team,’ said Rens. ‘Megan Dooley moved over to a right side hitter from middle blocker and had some great highlights.’ Sophomore Amy Town recorded 10 kills in the first match against Loyola Marymount on Saturday, which the Panthers lost in three sets, 18-25, 13-25 and 19-25. Town led the Panthers with 10 kills, eight digs and a .269 hitting percentage. The Panthers gave LMU 24 points in the match on attack errors. Senior Kelly Campbell finished with eight kills and five digs in the match. Freshmen Hannah Swysgood and Allyson Hodnik both played critical roles in the Pitt attack. Swysgood, who redshirted last year and is starting for the first time this season, had a career-high three block assists in the third set for Pitt. Hodnik set 13 of the Panthers’ 28 kills. Despite getting nine kills each from Campbell and Dooley in the second match, Pitt fell in three sets to UC Irvine by the scores of 20-25, 16-25 and 24-26. Following a timeout in the final set with the Panthers trailing by four, Campbell notched two kills and a block with Moses to cut the deficit to one point. Moses then blocked a UC Irvine attack with senior Nicole Taurence to tie the set at 18 points. After even play, Swysgood gave Pitt a 24-23 lead with a kill, but UC Irvine called a timeout, knotted the set with a kill and eventually won on two blocks of Panther attacks. Pitt dropped its final game of the tournament against San Jose State by the scores of 19-25, 18-25 and 21-25. Campbell paced the Panthers with 10 kills and eight digs, while Town added seven kills and two blocks in the match. Rens acknowledged the losses, but said he told his team they have not played a Big East opponent. ‘Even though we’ve lost some games, I told the players it’s the conference games that we really need to focus on,’ said Rens. ‘I wanted them to recognize that we haven’t lost faith yet, we’re putting emphasis on the day-to-day development.’