Weekend Recap: Volleyball team puts on solid showing in South Florida

The Pitt women’s volleyball team had a strong showing at the University of South Florida invitational this weekend.

The Panthers faced USF on Friday night and beat the team three sets to two in just their second five-set match of the season. After dropping the first set 20-25, the Panthers won the second, fourth and fifth sets to seal a tight victory.

“The thing that we’re most proud of is that even though we weren’t playing our best, we kept battling,” said head coach Dan Fisher.

No. 22 Purdue proved to be a tougher challenge Saturday morning, and the Panthers ended up losing their first five-set match of the year by a score of 3-2.

“They’re a consistent team,” Fisher said. “We were able to get to them a little by putting a lot of service pressure on them.”

The Boilermakers jumped out to an early lead, taking the first set 25-13. After a shaky first start, the Panthers made it close, but the Boilermakers’ experience and offensive chemistry proved to be too much for the Panthers, who dropped the final set 15-11.

After two close matches, Pitt dominated Florida Atlantic (3-0) in the final game of the tournament Saturday afternoon and improved its overall record to 7-3. The offense was led by juniors Kate Yeazel and Jessica Wynn, who finished with 16 and 12 kills, respectively. Wynn and teammate Lindsey Zitzke were named to the all-tournament team.

The Panthers will play at home next weekend for the first time this season, when they host the Pitt Panther Invitational.

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The men’s and women’s cross country teams traveled to central Pennsylvania to compete in the Spiked Shoe invitational for their second meet of the season.

The men competed against Penn State, Bucknell and Mount St. Mary’s. The women competed in a field of five, which included the previous four teams and West Virginia.

Cullen Davis was the first finisher for the boys, taking sixth overall with a time of 26:37. Sophomore Michael Runco closely followed Davis, coming in at 26:48, good for eighth place. Bucknell, which placed seven runners in the top 15, won the meet with a 33.

On the women’s side, Dee Dee Adams was the first Panther to cross the line, with a time of 22:12 over six kilometers. Junior Morgan Perry (22:19) and sophomore Hillary Boxheimer (22:24) finished second and third, respectively.

Penn State dominated the women’s race, taking the first six places and finishing with a perfect score of 15. The Panthers travel to Latrobe, Pa., next Saturday for the St. Vincent Invitational.