Pitt volleyball wins Pittsburgh classic

The Pitt volleyball team swept its way through the Pittsburgh Classic last weekend and… The Pitt volleyball team swept its way through the Pittsburgh Classic last weekend and extended its winning streak to eight games, winning the Pittsburgh Classic Volleyball championship.

Middle hitter Megan Miller was named MVP of the tournament, while freshman middle hitter Madelyn Egan and freshman libero Megan McGrane earned All-Tournament Team honors. Miller was also named Big East Player of the Week and Egan won Big East Rookie of the Week honors.

The Panthers hosted the round-robin tournament at Fitzgerald Field House, and the other participants included Charleston Southern University, the University of Maryland-Baltimore and George Washington University.

Pitt 3, Charleston Southern 0

Carrie Norris notched a game-high 42 assists and Gini Ullery recorded a double double as the Panthers swept the Buccaneers Friday night to win their opening match.

After taking early leads in all three games, the Panthers went on to defeat CSU by scores of 30-18, 30-16 and 30-18, extending their winning streak to 18 games over six matches.

Ullery led the Panthers with 12 digs, and added 12 kills to secure the double double. Outside hitter Wendy Hatlestad added 11 kills for the Panthers, and Miller racked up 13 kills and no errors for a .765 attack percentage. Outside hitter Sarah Rollman fell just short of a double double with nine kills and 10 digs.

“I thought our middles played tremendous; they didn’t have an error in the match,” Beerman said. “We played really solid and got out to a good start. You want to try to hold teams under 20 if you can, and we did that in each game.”

Pitt 3, UMBC 1

The UMBC Retrievers became the seventh victim of the Pitt win-streak, but the Panthers’ game streak would not go unblemished, as Pitt defeated UMBC 30-16, 28-30, 30-21 and 30-14.

The Panthers began the day where they had left off with Charleston Southern, denying the Retrievers any rallies and nearly doubling their score in the first game. But UMBC came back, barely winning the second game to tie the match – a setback that, according to Beerman, occurred because a lack of focus from the Panthers.

“It was a good wake up call for us,” Beerman said. “We had won 19 games in a row up to that point, and we kind of sleepwalked through that game.

“We got back in the locker room between games two and three, and it was all about realizing we’ve got to keep playing. We can’t just expect teams to lose; we’ve got to go out and win the match.”

Pitt bounced back from the setback to win the next two games convincingly and assure itself a shot at the Pittsburgh Classic Championship.

Once again, Norris led the way for the Panthers with 45 assists and added 11 digs for the double double. Ullery recorded 18 kills and Miller added 16 kills, attacking at a percentage of .652. Sarah Rollman notched 10 digs for the second consecutive game and McGrane had 23 digs for the Panthers.

Pitt 3, George Washington 0

George Washington proved to be a tough opponent, but ultimately the Panthers would prevail Saturday night 30-22, 30-22, and 30-21 to win the Pitt Classic Championship.

In the opening contest, Pitt trailed the Colonials early by a score of 7-3. But the Panthers came back to score five of the next six points, tying the game and forcing George Washington to take a timeout.

The two teams battled back and forth, until a George Washington net serve gave Pitt a 16-14 lead at the midway point. Pitt would pull away at the end of the game, handing George Washington the 8-point loss.

In game two, the Panthers got off to a fast start, scoring the first three points of the contest. But George Washington quickly got back into a game characterized by long rallies, and they trailed Pitt 17-13 heading into a George Washington timeout.

Coming out of the timeout, Pitt took control of the game and scored five straight points to take a nine-point lead. George Washington would make the match interesting, forcing the Panthers to use a timeout, but ultimately they pulled away again to equal their margin of victory.

Game three proved to be less competitive, as Pitt led by double digits for the majority of the game. Coming off a George Washington timeout, the Panthers notched six points in a row to build an 18-6 lead. The Colonials never recovered from the fast Pitt start and had to settle for a second-place finish in the tournament.

Miller led the way for the Panthers with 15 kills, and Egan added 11. Norris once again set the game standard for assists with 47, and Ullery and McGrane notched 15 digs each.

“I think we wore them down with our defense,” Beerman said. “They had to avoid our block a lot, and they did a good job of that, but then we dug the ball around the block.”

“We just played our game instead of playing down to the level of our opponents, Miller said. “We’re a fast-paced team, and Carrie kept it that way, and the hitters really responded.”

The Panthers (10-4) will put their eight-match win streak to the test against Big East competition starting Saturday, when they host Georgetown at Fitzgerald Field House at 5 p.m. Despite the recent Panther success, Beerman said there are some things he would like his team to improve upon before starting conference play.

“We’ve got to get better at blocking,” Beerman said. “I think we also need to get our outside hitters going. Our middles carried us this weekend, and we’ve got to get our outsides putting the ball away and being a little more confident.

“Other than that, I think we’ve got a nice steady thing going right now, and we just want to keep it going into conference next Saturday.”