Rens, volleyball stumble before earning first win of the season

It was a weekend of hard-fought competition for Pitt volleyball, as the team traveled south and… It was a weekend of hard-fought competition for Pitt volleyball, as the team traveled south and faced several top-ranking teams, including No. 13 Wisconsin. Pitt’s third and final match against Western Carolina was the first win for new head coach Toby Rens. ‘There were a number of high-level rallies, and we did a good job with it. We won several of the longer rallies,’ said Rens. ‘I think that says a lot for the focus and the fight that we have as a team.’ ‘I was very happy with an overly difficult task, [playing] two top-25 teams back to back. I learned a lot about my team and their character, the fight that they have and how competitive they are. It’s great.’ Rens and his Panthers will return home to the newly renovated Fitzgerald Field House next weekend to host the Pitt Classic. Kentucky 3, Pitt 2 After several comebacks and rallies from both sides, Pitt lost its 2008 season opener to the University of Kentucky Wildcats, 3-2, with set scores of 23-25, 25-19, 25-14, 22-25 and 21-19. The Panthers started strong with a win in the first set, which was capped off with a kill from sophomore Amy Town after numerous lead changes. With a lead of 1-0, Pitt lost the second and third sets, showing only a .086 hitting percentage. Pitt came back in the fourth set, even after being down 13-8 at one point in the game. A 10-5 run from the Panthers tied the game at 18, and a kill from senior Kelly Campbell gave Pitt at 23-22 lead. Pitt scored the final two points and evened the match up at 2-2. The fifth set, which usually only goes to 15 points, ended up being a much longer battle. After seven ties between the teams, Kentucky eventually took the last lead and started its tournament with a win. It shows that both teams were fighting hard and nobody wanted to lose, said Rens. I’m very proud of my student athletes. We didn’t give them any freebies, we made them win their points. Wisconsin 3, Pitt 0 Coming back in the morning after a fairly late night to face No. 13 Wisconsin proved unsuccessful for Pitt, as it dropped three sets in a row to the Badgers, 25-19, 25-19 and 25-16. The second set was closest for Pitt, as it closed an early 7-3 deficit to one at 9-8. Wisconsin then rallied, raising the score to 16-9 before senior Jessica Moses, who was praised for her work ethic by Rens, recorded a kill to make it 16-10. The gap would close further at 21-17 before the Badgers ran away with it and, eventually, the match. Town recorded 10 kills and seven digs in the match, and senior Nicole Taurence put up 13 points, six digs and four block assists in the contest. Pitt 3, Western Carolina 1 The Panthers held Western Carolina to a .171 hitting percentage in its only victory of the tournament, with set scores of 26-24, 23-25, 25-22 and 25-19. Pitt won the first and third sets of the match before it came down to the deciding fourth set in which the two teams tied 13 times. In the end, it was two stuff blocks and a final play by senior Nicole Taurence and sophomore Meagan Dooley that got the Panthers their first win of the season and Rens his first win with Pittsburgh. ‘I thought we did some great things against a team that has a very different style of play,’ said Rens. ‘We had our challenges in making adjustments against them, but we played outstanding team defense.’