Pitt shows off broomwork

With two of the biggest matches of the season on the horizon, Pitt’s volleyball team continued… With two of the biggest matches of the season on the horizon, Pitt’s volleyball team continued to take care of the opposition one game at a time, sweeping both Syracuse and Marquette over the weekend.

The wins bump the Panthers’ record up to 12-7 on the season and 5-1 in the Big East, setting up critical mid-season matchups with West Virginia (12-6 overall, 2-3 Big East) next weekend and Louisville (14-0, 4-0), ranked No. 6 in the nation, the weekend after.

“We played with a lot of confidence from beginning to end,” head coach Chris Beerman said in reference to both home sweeps. “I think [we] are really in a great frame of mind right now.”

Pitt dominated the flow of the game against the Orange, leading in every statistical category except for blocks. It was the match against Marquette on Sunday, however, that was closer than the score indicated.

The Panthers had to fight off furious Golden Eagle rallies in the first two games before being forced to rally themselves in the final game to close the door on the opposition (9-8, 3-3), 30-22, 30-25 and 30-28.

Pitt advanced to a quick 5-0 lead in the opening game behind the serving of Megan McGrane and strong play up front from Gini Ullery and Diana Andreyko. Two early blocks and a few forceful kills that bounced off the outstretched bodies of sprawling Golden Eagles helped the Panthers open up a 20-9 advantage.

“We were probably the worst serving team in the conference last year,” Beerman said of his team’s improvement in that area. “This year, we have more girls working on the jump floating serve. It’s not a complete jump-serve, but it seems to be more aggressive.”

Marquette, however, rallied and did so quickly. Pitt’s offensive attack fell out of sync as balls were hit out of bounds, blocks were missed and diving efforts were all for naught as the Golden Eagles ran off seven straight points to close the gap to four.

Andreyko responded, though, with a bullet down the right side for a kill and then a block that eventually resulted in Pitt taking a 24-19 lead. The Panthers steadily pulled away and used a kill from Ullery to take the first game.

The second match began as a seesaw affair until a mid-game run, fueled by vicious kills from Ullery and Andreyko, opened up a 14-9 lead for the Panthers. The lead swelled to 20-12 after Ullery pounded a rocket off two Marquette defenders.

Shades of game one arose, though, as Panther errors and strong play from Marquette’s Katie Weidner (30 assists on the match) and Tiffany Helmbrecht (eight kills) closed the gap. A high-floating ball was thrown down with two hands by Marquette’s Kimberley Todd, who chipped in a team-high 12 kills on the afternoon to close within 24-22, prompting Beerman to call a timeout

The team responded immediately. Ullery blocked a hit for a point, and Andreyko keyed another point to open up a four-point advantage. Marquette closed to within 28-25, but would get no further in dropping the second game 30-25.

Pitt raced to an early lead in the third game, but Marquette rallied yet again. After McGrane dove to keep a rocket kill from scoring, the ball popped high in the air and found its way into the hands of Nicole Taurence. The freshman quickly sent the ball to the far side of the court to Ullery, who slammed it home to give Pitt a 13-10 lead. It was one of her game-high 43 assists of the afternoon.

“She just keeps getting better and better,” Beerman said. “I thought she was great last weekend, but she was even better this weekend. It’s a comfort thing, and she is starting to get comfortable.”

That lead was short-lived, however, as the Golden Eagles ran off five straight points, capped off by a kill from Caitie O’Brien, to induce yet another timeout from Beerman. The stop of play did little though, as the teams played virtually identical volleyball, reflected by a 19-19 score not even 10 minutes later.

Marquette’s Nicole Wallace banged a shot off the arms of two Pitt defenders for an Eagle point, then Pitt hit two shots out of bounds and Marquette scored again for a 23-19 Eagle lead. The lead remained 25-23 before the Panthers put together strong offensive play behind McGrane (16 digs on the match), Ullery (14 kills), Andreyko 16 kills) and Taurence to chip away at the lead and tie the score at 27.

Andreyko then took over, crushing three kills to end the match, the last one hitting Marquette defenders before ultimately falling to the court as the Panthers celebrated a weekend sweep and a few days off before the Mountaineers come to town Friday night.

“West Virginia is a very good team,” Beerman said. “They are always very competitive against us. We consistently get their best effort.”