Pitt splits four matches in busy week

The Pitt women’s volleyball team wrapped up a grueling four-game stretch Tuesday night with a… The Pitt women’s volleyball team wrapped up a grueling four-game stretch Tuesday night with a 3-1 loss to cross-town rival Duquesne. Inconsistency and serving errors plagued the Panthers (3-4) against an unrelenting Dukes (7-1) team. The loss capped a stretch of four games in four nights, in which the Panthers managed a 2-2 record ‘mdash; all while learning a new system under first-year head coach Toby Rens. ‘I’m very happy that the team has been open to the changes,’ said Rens of his system. ‘We’re getting a little bit better every week. I’m very happy with the team’s willingness to implement a new system.’ Pitt’s three other games came in the Pitt Classic last weekend, which Pitt hosted at the Fitzgerald Field House for the first time since 2004. ‘It was tough coming off the weekend,’ said Rens. ‘We had the three home tournament games, and we just had consistency issues. That’s our Achilles’ heel right now.’ Pitt must correct its inconsistency before it heads west to Los Angeles, Calif., for the Loyola Marymount Tournament this weekend against host Loyola Marymount, UC Irvine and San Jose State. ‘We’re going to be really challenged,’ said Rens. ‘There are three really solid programs out there that hopefully we can push, as well.’ Last weekend, the newly renovated Fitzgerald Field House played host to Pitt, Eastern Kentucky, Binghamton and Ohio University. Senior Kelly Campbell and juniors Meagan Dooley and Michelle Rossi were named to the All-Pitt Classic team. Campbell led the Panthers with 27 kills, while Dooley had 13 blocks and a .415 hitting clip during the tournament. Rossi had 50 digs for a 5.0 dig per set average. ‘All were very worthy of the recognition,’ said Rens. ‘Kelly is a great leader of the team, she really came through. Megan is a middle blocker, I thought she really stepped it up and improved. Michelle has been outstanding for us the last two weeks and is really the staple for us defensively.’ Pitt won its first two games of the Pitt Classic last Friday against Eastern Kentucky (3-0) and Binghamton (3-0). ‘I think both games we did an exceptional job of staying focused and executing what we were doing on our side of the net,’ said Rens. The Panthers then lost a hard-fought game to Ohio University 3-1 on Saturday. ‘It was a tough loss on Saturday against a very good team,’ said Rens. ‘We just needed to move on from that.’ Rens said the tournament games were no excuse for losing to Duquesne, which also played in a tournament in Baltimore the same weekend. Pitt was caught on its heels early in the match, after the Dukes jumped out to an early 12-3 lead in the first game. Duquesne never trailed in the game and cruised to a 25-17 win to go up 1-0. The second game proved to be a tough, even tilt with neither team stretching past a four-point differential. With the Dukes leading 23-20, senior Jessica Moses did her best to keep the Panthers close late in the game. She scored three of the Panthers last four points with two kills and a block. But the Dukes hung with the Panthers and rallied after a timeout to win a close game, 26-24. Facing a 0-2 deficit coming out of halftime, the Panthers finally showed signs of life against the Dukes, jumping out to an early 8-2 lead. The Panthers never let their lead drop below six points in the game. Dooley notched six kills for Pitt, and the team owned a .333 attack percentage. It used that and five team blocks to dominate game three and cruise to a 25-10 win. In game four,’ Duquesne jumped out to an early 3-0 lead and held the lead until the Panthers tied the score at nine. But a kill off of Moses put the Dukes on top for good. They went on a 10-2 run and never looked back as they captured the 25-19 game victory and the 3-1 match victory. Dooley and Campbell led the Panthers with 17 and 14 kills, respectively. Campbell added 13 digs, who, along with Rossi’s 22 digs, continued to adjust to the new defensive system. ‘Both teams played good defense,’ said Rens. ‘We had 68 digs as a team.’ Moses led the Panthers in attack percentage with a .235 percentage, and freshman Allyson Hodnik had a career-high 45 assists. Ten service errors by the Panthers, compared to just two by the Dukes, gave Duquesne easy points and prevented Pitt from building up any scoring momentum. ‘We knew coming in that Duquesne doesn’t really make a lot of mistakes,’ said Rens. ‘We also kind of got caught up playing [Duquesne’s] system. Their system is slower and more deliberate. We like to play fast.’ The Panthers lost the match but still led the Dukes in total team blocks (13-8), attack percentage (.147-.128), kills (49-47) and assists (46-44). Rens hopes his team continues to improve under his new system and hopes to make Pitt into an NCAA tournament regular. ‘I think it’s a process for everyone involved,’ said Rens of the system change. ‘I continue to learn more and more about my players, and they do about me. I love the openness and how they’ve embraced change and a new idea and a new system. The team really fights, and sooner or later we’re going to turn that corner and qualify for the NCAA tournament.’