Volleyball loses only one game in two wins

After both winning and losing a five-game match last weekend, the Pitt volleyball team… After both winning and losing a five-game match last weekend, the Pitt volleyball team finished off both Long Island and Seton Hall this weekend in four and three games, respectively.

The Long Island Blackbirds (18-10, 5-0 NEC) came to the Fitzgerald Field House in the midst of a six-match winning streak, losing only one game in those matches. Before Pitt, the last team to defeat the Blackbirds was Seton Hall – the Panthers’ next opponent.

Big East play returned for the Panthers on Sunday against Seton Hall (14-12, 3-7 Big East). Pitt didn’t lose a game, improving to 19-7 overall and 7-3 in the Big East.

Next weekend Pitt welcomes two more Big East foes into town. It plays Cincinnati on Friday at 7 p.m. and Louisville on Sunday at 2 p.m. in the last home game of the season.

Pitt 3, Long Island 1

The Fitzgerald Field House opened its doors Friday night not only to the Blackbirds, but also to Inspiring Pitt Pride Night. The Pitt Panther and Pitt cheerleaders riled up the crowd before the match. A few cheerleaders even took to the stands to hand out candy.

The Blackbirds won the first five points of game one. Trailing 7-2, Pitt started its run to tie the game thanks to a block by freshman Kim Kern. The Panthers would win the next four points, tying things at seven.

With the score tied at 14 apiece, sophomore Stephanie Ross recorded one of her game-high 18 kills to give Pitt a 15-14 advantage. Pitt would not relinquish the lead.

Game one ended with the Panthers winning 30-20 on a Long Island attack error.

Pitt jumped out to an early 3-0 lead in game two, but Long Island didn’t trail for long. The Blackbirds won 10 of the next 14 points, giving them a 10-7 lead.

Long Island won 10 of the final 13 points, finishing game two with a 30-19 win.

Despite the loss, Pitt head coach Chris Beerman gave his team some strong words of encouragement.

“There was a very voracious locker room talk after game two,” Beerman said. “I think I just challenged them very hard, and this is a tough team, they’re very competitive.”

Pitt started off the pivotal game three using a Megan Dooley block to once again jump out to a 3-0 lead. The Panthers continued to ride their early momentum, and backed by another vicious kill from Diana Andreyko, took a 20-8 lead.

Pitt eased up, allowing Long Island back into the game. After a Panther attack error, the lead dwindled down to 22-16. Strong frontcourt play from Andreyko, Ross and sophomore Jessica Moses helped ensure Pitt that it would hold onto game three.

For the third straight game, Pitt took a 3-0 lead. Long Island fought back, and eventually took a 16-11 lead, causing Coach Beerman to call a timeout.

“Believe it or not, I was calm at that time,” Beerman said. “We were over-blocking, over-digging, over-everything, and all we had to do was settle down and just take what they gave us.”

After Pitt fought to bring the game to a 17-17 tie, the Blackbirds committed two straight attack errors to give a 19-17 lead. With Pitt leading 25-22, freshman Michelle Rossi saved not only herself from a powerful kill attempt, but kept Pitt’s rally alive with a great dig leading to another Ross kill.

Pitt won game four and the match on another attack error by the Blackbirds.

Senior Azadeh Boroumand finished with a double-double, tallying 40 assists to go with her 11 digs. Andreyko also finished with a double-double thanks to her 12 kills and 11 digs. Rossi finished with 16 digs and recorded a career high five assists.

Pitt 3, Seton Hall 0

The Panthers then traveled to South Orange, N.J., Sunday to take on Seton Hall. Backed by big performances from Kern and Boroumand, Pitt easily disposed of the Pirates in three games.

Kern tied the Pitt record for block assists in a three game match, totaling nine. Earlier in the year, the freshman broke the school record for most block assists in a five game match with 11.

Pitt as a team would go on to out block Seton Hall 19-4.

“When we block, we usually win,” Coach Beerman said. “Whenever you can shut a team down at the net, it’s physically damaging and psychologically damaging to them also.”

The Pirates jumped out to an early 6-4 lead in game one, but Dooley quickly changed things with three straight points.

The Pirates closed the gap to three, trailing 12-9, but Pitt rattled off four straight points and then cruised to a game one victory. A block by Dooley and Jessica Moses gave Pitt the 30-18 win.

The Panthers took an early 12-6 lead in game two after a block by Boroumand. Pitt took its biggest lead of the game when a kill by Ross put it up 24-15. With the score 29-23, Andreyko ended game two with one of her 10 kills.

Seton Hall took a 10-7 lead in game three, but the Panthers tied things at 11 on a Pirates error. After that, Pitt never let the Pirates so much as tie the game. The Panthers took game three 30-26, with the winning point coming on a kill from Boroumand, who finished with nine kills and 34 assists.

Andreyko had 10 kills and nine digs for the Panthers, while Megan Dooley recorded a game-high 12 kills to go with her seven blocks.

The Panthers also recorded 46 assists to Seton Hall’s 40, while committing 17 fewer attack errors than the Pirates.

“I thought we passed really well, our service game was excellent, and our blocking was tremendous,” Beerman said. “It was a good, solid, clean game.”