Pitt spikes Robert Morris

It wasn’t easy, but Pitt volleyball beat Robert Morris, 3-1, on Tuesday night, staying… It wasn’t easy, but Pitt volleyball beat Robert Morris, 3-1, on Tuesday night, staying undefeated at home.

Coming off a tough weekend in conference play that yielded two losses, the Panthers were given almost all they could handle from the smaller Robert Morris squad.

Though they came out on top, Pitt head coach Chris Beerman said the team was affected.

“We’re struggling in conference play right now,” Beerman said. “It was a tough weekend, but we have to play with confidence. We’re better than that.”

The Panthers started out strong, with a comfortable 30-22 victory in the match’s first game. Beerman stayed glued to his seat.

After exchanging points during the game’s early stages, the Panthers pulled away on a Diana Andreyko kill from the back line.

Once the second game rolled around, however, it was a different story.

Pitt struggled with its consistency, blowing an eight-point advantage in the process of losing 10 consecutive points.

Led by 10 Andreyko kills, the Panthers somehow managed to get themselves a game point. They couldn’t convert, however, ultimately losing the game 31-29, wasting a dominating Andreyko effort.

After a locker-room break, Pitt was challenged to get things going again.

Beerman turned to his bench after his team fell behind early on in the game. Junior Stephanie Ross proved to be the spark the team needed.

Ross converted four consecutive points with her serve to draw the game into a deadlock. And with a clean block, she gave her team its first lead since the game’s early stages.

From there, the Panthers cruised to the game victory on yet another Andreyko kill, giving them a 30-28 game victory and a 2-1 advantage.

With victory in sight, the Panthers played a tidy fourth game, easily cruising to victory, 30-22. The match was settled, fittingly, on an Andreyko kill, her 22nd of the match.

“We started to play a lot more like ourselves in the last game,” Beerman said.

Andreyko, the team’s lone senior, admitted that it was a tough night for her team.

“It was a dead match with very little energy,” Andreyko said. “But we ended up with the ‘W’ in the end.”

She echoed the sentiments of her coach, admitting that confidence seemed to be a problem after two hard losses to Georgetown and South Florida.

Despite the team’s lackadaisical effort, there was no shortage of fireworks from the hands of Andreyko. She played the entire game, offering steady serving and digs, while dominating the net.

“She’s our leader,” Beerman said. “She leads by example. She won’t yell and scream at her teammates. She leaves that to me.”

And you won’t find Andreyko mulling over her personal accolades.

“My team is the bottom point,” Andreyko said. “I don’t care about my kills. I’ll be mad either way if we lose a game.”

The volleyball team returns to conference play on Friday with a match at West Virginia.