California dreaming

Against three teams with winning records over the Panthers, two of those nationally ranked,… Against three teams with winning records over the Panthers, two of those nationally ranked, the Pitt volleyball team still managed to pull out a win in this weekend’s San Diego Invitational and have two of its sophomores awarded All-San Diego Invitational Team honors.

Pitt lost to No. 18 San Diego, 3-0, to No. 5 UCLA, 3-0 but managed a 3-0 sweep over unranked Cal State-Northridge. Sophomores Meagan Dooley and Michelle Rossi both earned the all-invitational honors.

Dooley had a .307 hitting percentage, a total of 41.5 points, 34 kills and 13 blocks over the weekend, while Rossi recorded 61 digs and three assists. Her game-high was 21 digs, while Dooley tallied a high of 14 kills.

Pitt head coach Chris Beerman said the two “both really deserved to be all-tournament.”

“I thought we had some good performances as a team,” he said. “I thought Meagan really came out and played dominantly. UCLA is a high-level team, and she was at that high level. And Michelle Rossi really had a consistent week.”

“It was obviously a very competitive weekend, especially playing UCLA, the fifth-ranked team in the country, and overall, I think a good way to cap off the non-conference part of the season,” Beerman said.

Leading Pitt with 47 assists in the tournament was freshman Emily Burke.

The Panthers faced all three teams at Jenny Craig Pavilion in a two-day tournament coming off a four-match winning streak.

San Diego was coming off three consecutive wins, and the Toreros were 1-0 against Pitt. This weekend, they swept the Panthers 3-0 with scores of 30-21, 30-28 and 30-20.

UCLA went into the tournament 7-1 and held a 3-0-1 lead over the Panthers. The Panthers fell again in a sweep with scores of 30-22, 30-22 and 30-20.

Cal State Northridge was 3-6 with a 1-0 record against Pitt but lost in a sweep to the Panthers 30-19, 30-28 and 30-26.

Pitt is now 6-7 and faces Notre Dame in its conference opener this Saturday at home.

San Diego 3, Pitt 0

Burke, ranked 12th in the NCAA for assists per game, notched 29 assists and was aided by junior Nicole Taurence, who added nine. Senior Diana Andreyko had 13 kills and 10 digs.

For the defense, Rossi recorded 22 digs, and junior Jessica Moses assisted with a team-high four blocks in the match.

In the first game Moses and junior Kelly Campbell got the tournament started with back-to-back kills. The Panthers didn’t hold the lead long but almost came back when San Diego faltered with a service error, leaving the score at 11-10. San Diego held the lead until the end.

Pitt and San Diego had four lead changes and tied the game 13 times in game two. Junior Stephanie Ross kicked off Pitt’s first lead with a 14-13 kill from Burke, and the duo completed another after a timeout at 25-22. Andreyko fostered two more ties at 25 and 28 with a kill each time. San Diego then took the lead and the game with two kills.

In game three Campbell led with five kills and notched 11 total.

UCLA 3, Pitt 0

In game one Moss started the team off with an ace and a 2-0 lead. The Bruins had one attack error and a ball-handling error leaving Pitt up, 8-5. Pitt closed the gap with a score of 14-10, and after a timeout Campbell recorded a kill, but UCLA retained its lead until the end.

Game two again started off favorably for the Panthers when Dooley and Taurence blocked the Bruins’ attack to start the game up, 2-1. UCLA pulled ahead by as many as six points before a Panthers rally to close the gap to four points. Moses notched a kill, giving Pitt a 15-19 score, but the Panthers trailed from then on.

Campbell notched three kills, one ace and one block assist in game two.

In game three, UCLA jumped out with an 8-1 lead. Burke, Moses, Campbell and Dooley, assisted by Taurence, all recorded kills in the game, but the Bruins won, 30-20.

In total, Dooley led with 13 kills and a .346 hitting average, while Rossi led the team with 18 digs.

Pitt 3, Cal State Northridge 0

In their only win of the tournament, the Panthers held Cal State Northridge to a .106 attack mark and .167 hitting clip.

Against the Matadors Rossi had a game-high 21 digs, Dooley tallied 14 kills, Campbell notched a game-high 15 kills and added seven digs. Andreyko recorded 11 kills and six digs.

In game one, Pitt started off with a 3-1 lead with a kill from Dooley, assisted by Burke. After a CSNU timeout, Andreyko and Campbell notched back-to-back kills, forcing another timeout, after which the Panthers held the Matadors back for the first win.

In game two the teams had 16 ties and 10 lead changes leading up to a score of 27-27 following an attack error from CSNU. Campbell and Moses blocked the potential 29th point, and Campbell notched one more kill to seal the win for Pitt. In total, Campbell notched eight kills and Dooley recorded five.

In game three, Burke assisted 15 of Pitt’s attacks, and Andreyko led with five kills.