Miller leads Pitt to weekend sweep

Middle hitter Megan Miller’s performance aided the Pitt volleyball team in extending its… Middle hitter Megan Miller’s performance aided the Pitt volleyball team in extending its winning streak to nine games with two victories over Big East opponents Connecticut and St. John’s this weekend.

‘ ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘ The team started the weekend by beating Connecticut Huskies on Friday evening in front of a wild home crowd, then swept St. John’s Red Storm on Sunday afternoon for their 13th victory in 14 matches.

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Pitt 3 UConn 1

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‘ ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘ Pitt (15-3, 5-0 Big East) opened their match against UConn with a decisive game-one victory, 30-19. The lively crowd made up mostly of student organizations seemed to energize the Panthers at the start of the match.

‘ ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘ “When you get 500 people in the Field House, in the blue-backs, it really makes a big difference. The enthusiasm really brought out the best in us. It would be nice to have that all the time,” coach Chris Beerman said.

‘ ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘ The Huskies pulled out game two as they salvaged a 30-28 come-from-behind victory.

‘ ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘ “We kinda put it in cruise control, and unfortunately, UConn is too good of a team to do that against, and they came back and got us in that game,” Beerman said.

‘ ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘ Pitt trailed UConn by two points midway through the third match when Beerman called a timeout.

‘ ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘ “I got a little intense with them and challenged them. They just responded the way they have all year — they just got really fired up and they took control of the match,” he said.

‘ ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘ His challenge apparently worked, as the Panthers rattled off 13 of the next 15 points to win 30-21. They finished off the Huskies with a 30-24 victory in game four to take the match 3-1.

‘ ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘ Miller led the attack for the Panthers with game highs of 27 kills and a .500 hitting percentage.

‘ ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘ Two Panthers recorded double-doubles, with outside hitter Wendy Hatlestad registering 17 kills and a game-high 21 digs, and setter Lindsey Macke posting 12 digs and a game-high 52 assists.

‘ ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘ Also contributing for the Panthers were outside hitter Sarah Rollman with nine kills and nine digs, and libero Megan McGrane with 18 digs.

‘ ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘ The Huskies (11-9, 1-3), who suffered a loss when assist-leader Julie Erbez went down with an injury minutes into game one, were lead by Jamie Hadenfeldt with 16 kills and 11 digs.

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Pitt 3 St. John’s 0

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‘ ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘ The Panthers stayed perfect in Big East play with a sweep against St. John’s. It was the 10th time in their 15 wins that they swept an opponent.

‘ ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘ The match started in similar fashion to the first game against UConn. Pitt jumped out to an early, 14-6 advantage and went on to win 30-15.

‘ ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘ Game two proved to be more difficult, with the two teams fighting back and forth, matching each other point for point for much of the game, but Pitt pulled out the 32-30 victory.

‘ ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘ Game three was tight for most of the way until the Panthers pulled out four straight points and the 30-25 victory.

‘ ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘ Miller had 15 kills, a game-high .444 hitting percentage and 7 blocks for the Panthers, which, combined with her totals from her game versus UConn, was good enough to earn her recognition as the Big East Conference Volleyball co-Player of the Week.

‘ ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘ In five Big East matches this year, she has totaled 87 kills while hitting .429.

‘ ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘ “She just took over. She’s really consistent, but especially against UConn, she just went off,” Beerman said of Miller.

‘ ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘ Rollman posted a double-double with 10 digs and a game-high 16 kills, and Hatlestad added nine kills and nine digs.

‘ ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘ Also contributing were outside hitter Abby Fechhelm with four kills and a team-high 11 digs and McGrane with 10 digs.

‘ ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘ The Red Storm (20-6, 2-2), who were led by Jackie Ahlers with 13 kills and seven digs, were held to a season-low .088 hitting percentage.

‘ ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘ The Panthers play their final non-conference game of the season when they take on Duquesne on Tuesday at 7 p.m. at the A.J.PalumboCenter.