Volleyball splits Big East matches

It was a weekend of career highs for numerous members of the Pitt volleyball team, which was… It was a weekend of career highs for numerous members of the Pitt volleyball team, which was on the road in Big East action last weekend to finish out a five game road trip. The Panthers came back from being down 2-0 and won on Friday night, but were unable to have a repeat performance on Sunday afternoon.

Pitt 3, Rutgers 2

The first stop on the Panthers’ road trip was in Piscataway, N.J., to take on the Rutgers Scarlet Knights.

Pitt fell behind early, as it was defeated in two straight matches. Rutgers beat Pitt in the first game, 30-25, and in the second game, 30-27.

The Panthers were able to mount a comeback behind another strong performance by redshirt sophomore middle hitter Megan Miller.

Miller had 20 kills and a hitting percentage of .425. Miller is the first Panther player to record 20 kills in a match and made just three errors in 40 attempts.

Facing elimination, the Panthers won three straight games by a score of 34-32, 30-27 and 15-2 respectively.

Junior outside hitter Wendy Hatlestad and freshman middle hitter Madelyn Egan also had productive matches as both players had 17 kills apiece.

Hatlestad hit .400, had 14 digs, four blocks and just three errors in 35 attempts.

“Wendy had been struggling lately and she played like she should have [been playing],” head coach Chris Beerman said.

Egan hit .378 and had a match-high six blocks while her 17 kills is a career high.

Senior setter Carrie Norris contributed a career-high 66 assists in the match along with five kills and 10 digs. April Puzauskas had eight kills and 10 digs.

Megan McGrane is the Big East leader in digs per game and had a career high 24 digs while adding two assists.

Pitt hit .275 for the match while the Scarlet Knights hit .178.

“It was a nice comeback win. It does not happen often that a team comes back from a two game deficit on the road,” Beerman said. “It showed a lot of character, especially when both teams needed to win the game for the Big East tournament.”

Seton Hall 3, Pitt 2

Norris took over as Pitt’s all-time leader in assists, but Pitt dropped the match 3-2 to Seton Hall.

Coming into the match, Norris needed 49 assists to top Annemarie Mernagh’s record. Mernagh was a member of the Panthers from 1991-94. Norris is currently 18 assists in front of Mernagh and she also added 10 digs and four blocks.

“That’s a pretty good accomplishment. It shows that you have played for a long time and she has been a big factor in Pitt’s success,” Beerman said. “I hope she has opportunity to lead her team to Big East tournament and cap off her career in style.”

The Panthers began the match in similar fashion as Friday’s match as they were down 2-0. The Pirates won the first game, 30-20, and the second game, 30-27.

Pitt again battled back to win two consecutive matches as it won games three and four, 30-28 and 30-18. There would not be an encore performance as the Panthers dropped game five, 15-13.

“That was a tremendous loss. We did not compete, which was very surprising,” Beerman said. “We have to win out and now have to have help to make the tournament.”

Miller and junior outside hitter Sarah Rollman had 22 kills apiece. Rollman had a .325 hitting percentage and 13 digs. Miller hit .273 and had 10 errors.

Hatlestad had another strong match as she had 19 kills in 48 attempts. McGrane added an assist and 15 digs.

The Pirates had four players to reach double digits in kills. Seton Hall’s Tara Brooks had a double double as she recorded 13 kills and 12 digs.

Seton Hall hit .245 compared to Pitt’s .232.

The Panthers are next in action in more Big East matchups this weekend. Pitt plays Miami on Nov. 8 at 7 p.m. and Virginia Tech on Nov. 10 at 2 p.m.

“They are the two biggest games of the year. We have to win them both and they are really good teams,” Beerman said. “We have to suck it up at home and come up with a couple of wins. We have not been home for a while and it would be nice for fans to come out and give us a home court advantage.”