Volleyball will miss Big East Tourney

In a weekend when three of Pitt’s volleyball players set personal and school bests, the Pitt… In a weekend when three of Pitt’s volleyball players set personal and school bests, the Pitt volleyball team split home matches, losing Friday to St. Louis and winning its regular season and Big East finale against Rutgers Sunday.

Despite the victory, the squad was eliminated from Big East tournament competition.

The Panthers (15-14, 8-6 Big East) fell on Friday for just the second time at home this season in a 3-1 defeat. With two block assists, junior Jessica Moses moved into fourth on the all-time career block assists list with 286.

In similar fashion, sophomore Meagan Dooley moved into fourth place on the all-time career solo block list with 64.

On Sunday senior and team captain Diana Andreyko set the school record for career kills at 1,815, surpassing Ann Marie Lucanie, on the way to lead Pitt to a 3-0 shutout win.

Head coach Chris Beerman praised his lone senior’s accomplishments.

“The best thing about today was D,” Beerman said, referring to Andreyko. “It’s a record that a lot of people thought would not be broken because we are in a rally score era, where the games are shorter.

“I doubt if her record will be broken.”

With the win against last-place conference finisher Rutgers, the Panthers assumed a part in a four-way tie for the sixth-through-eighth spots in the Big East with UConn, Syracuse and South Florida, with only three spots available.

Because of tiebreakers, the Panthers found themselves on the outside of the conference tournament. Beerman, though, blames only his own team for their exclusion.

“It was a disappointing season to be honest,” Beerman said. “I expected us to be in the mix for the conference championship. But when you lose in three to Syracuse at home and to Georgetown, I don’t know that we deserve to be in the tournament.”

Georgetown finished the year in a tie for last place in the conference with Rutgers, claiming its only victory against the Panthers.

“That Georgetown loss really hurt us,” Beerman said.

Saint Louis 3, Pitt 1

Pitt struggled early to find its rhythm in a 3-1 defeat at the hands of the visiting Saint Louis Billikens.

In the match’s opening game, the Panthers committed a total of 11 errors in the game, eventually falling 30-16.

In Game 2, the Panthers played close, only to eventually lose the game 30-28.

In the third game, Pitt rushed out to a 10-5 lead. After a 9-4 run, giving the Panthers a 19-9 advantage, Saint Louis called a timeout. The Billikens made a couple of small runs after, but Pitt maintained its advantage on the way to a 30-24 victory.

In the match’s deciding game, the Panthers found themselves with the lead at 10-9 after an Andreyko kill, one of her six in the game. St. Louis closed out the match on a Pitt error, 30-26.

Beerman blamed the loss on a lack of effort.

Pitt 3, Rutgers 0

Pitt crushed visiting Rutgers 3-0 on senior day with game scores of 30-8, 30-20 and 30-12.

Coming into the match Andreyko was 16 kills shy of the all-time school record. In the opening game, she contributed 11 kills, with the team only donating one error on their way to a landslide victory. Andreyko got the record in the next game, and paced Pitt to a landslide victory.

Despite the shutout win, Beerman wasn’t exactly happy.

“I don’t know if we played particularly well or if Rutgers was ready for their season to be over,” he said.

He did, however, give much credit to his star hitter.

“I give Diana credit for being a starter in every game of her career and never missing a game due to injury,” he said. “Capping off the game with 23 kills and a .514 hitting percentage is a testament to how hard of a worker she is.”