A Closer Look

The Teams – The Pitt Panthers (16-11 overall, 9-5 Big East) head for the Bluegrass… The Teams – The Pitt Panthers (16-11 overall, 9-5 Big East) head for the Bluegrass State and the Big East Volleyball tournament Friday when they take on the Syracuse Orange (24-9, 11-3) from the Kentucky International Convention Center in Louisville. The Panthers are the tournament’s sixth seed, while the Orange earned the third seed. The match is set for 3:30 p.m.

The Coaches – Chris Beerman is in his sixth year with the Panthers following four seasons at James Madison. In his six seasons, he owns a 116-63 record, but earlier this year he won his 200th career game with the Panthers’ sweep over Georgetown. Jing Pu is in his 10th season at the helm of the Orange, leading Syracuse to five 20-plus win seasons and four appearances in the Big East tournament.

Last Meeting – The Panthers took care of the Orange at Fitzgerald Field House earlier this season with a 3-0 sweep on Oct. 8. Gini Ullery led all players with 19 kills in the match while Megan McGrane led all players with 17 digs. It was the fourth win of a season-high six-match win streak for the Panthers.

Diggin’ It Up – Panthers’ libero Megan McGrane has put up some of the most prolific statistics in NCAA history in terms of digs in a career. In her four years at Pitt, McGrane has recorded 2,311 digs, which is good enough for fourth place in NCAA history and leaves her just 43 digs behind Houston senior libero Jaci Gonzalez, who has recorded 2,354 in her career.

Ain’t that Grand – Gini Ullery became just the fourth player in Pitt history to record 1,000 kills and 1,000 digs in a career when the Panthers lost to St. John’s. She is currently fourth all-time in kills and seventh all-time in digs in Panthers’ history.

Award Weekend – Before the tournament starts Friday, the conference will hand out the awards for the season and the Panthers could take home some more hardware after winning two major awards a year ago. Last year, Megan Miller won Player of the Year while Diana Andreyko was named Rookie of the Year. This season, McGrane should receive votes for Libero of the Year, while freshman Nicole Taurence has a shot at Rookie of the Year.

Going Strong – The Orange are coming into the tournament playing their best volleyball of the season. Despite finishing the season with a 3-1 loss to Louisville, the Orange have won 12 of their last 14 matches on the year. However, the Panthers have beaten the Orange four matches in a row, with Syracuse’s last victory coming in 2002.