Pitt volleyball wins its third straight game by five sets against Louisville

Pitt fans don’t favor games like Pitt volleyball’s Friday night matchup against Louisville, or at least their hearts don’t. Teams traded back and forth, officials spent several minutes reviewing key challenge calls, and players staged rallies that lasted 30 seconds or longer into the fifth set.

But did these fans expect anything different? Well, probably not based on these two’s previous performances. This is the third straight game between Pitt and Louisville that went five sets. But Pitt has now won all three of those games, as Pitt won 3-2 (25-21, 26-28, 25-17, 22-25, 15-12) on Friday night at the Petersen Events Center.

However, head coach Dan Fisher didn’t mind watching Pitt play its third straight five-set match against Louisville.

“I think this is the type of game we needed,” Fisher said. “We haven’t been in these tough games often this season, so we’re going to make adjustments and get better, and I thought it was a great battle.”

Redshirt junior middle blocker Bre Kelley was the star for Pitt. On Friday, she finished her first game against Louisville with 12 kills – a career high – on 24 swings and a .500 batting average. Defensively, she reached a career-high 10 blocks.

“Honestly, I just think our passers did their job,” Kelley said. “Rachel [Fairbanks] She just fed me the ball, and when she saw that it was consistent, she just passed it to me and gave it to me great [sets] that I can kill. And we just kept going.”

The 24 swings were the most swings Kelley had all season. It wasn’t Fisher who demanded that Kelley earn more sets, as he trusted veteran setter Rachel Fairbanks to make the right plays.

“It’s more trust than ever in a setter,” Fisher said. “There are times when I get involved with them when I think something has gone wrong tactically. But [she] understands the game really well. So we don’t tell her where to go.”

In the fifth set, sixth-year underdog Valeria Vazquez Gomez was the star, securing another five-set win over Louisville.

“I thought Valeria’s defense in the fifth set was incredible,” Fisher said. “That was one of the big differences – she kept the ball alive as it passed the block.”

Sophomore Olivia Babcock had another impressive performance, finishing the game with 22 kills, a .327 hitting percentage and seven digs. But Babcock had a poor day from the service line with six errors, the most of his season.

First Sentence:

Pitt jumped on Louisville to start the match, batting .429 and forcing the Cardinals to hit -.333 early in the game. Louisville head coach Dani Busboom Kelly didn’t like what she saw and called a timeout with her team trailing 9-3.

Kelly’s timeout didn’t work the way she wanted as Pitt took an even larger lead of 15-8, prompting her to call the second Louisville timeout of the set. The Panthers largely dominated the first set. Louisville’s longest run was 3-0. Whenever the Cardinals came back, the Panthers quickly dashed their hopes.

Pitt won the first set 25-21 as Babcock had seven kills for a .455 hitting percentage and Fairbanks had 12 assists. Torrey Stafford, a sophomore outside hitter, was also a big help on the defensive side of the ball, earning eight digs and helping Pitt hold Louisville to a .167 batting average.

Second sentence:

Louisville took its first lead in the second set. An early .400 batting average helped Louisville maintain the lead and forced Pitt into a timeout while trailing 7-3.

The Cardinals continued to press, eventually taking a 12-5 lead and forcing Fisher to call his second timeout of the set. After the timeout, the Cardinals scored another point and took a commanding 13-5 lead. Fisher saw enough, using sophomore outside hitter Blaire Bayless and senior setter Niza Buzletepe to take a 6-2 lead.

The Panthers slowly fought their way back onto the field, which gave Pitt fans hope. Ultimately, it wasn’t just hope. Pitt tied the game at 20 points and took the first lead of the set at 24-23 – one point away from winning the second set and taking a 2-0 lead.

But the Cardinals had other plans as they won set point 24-23 and ultimately won the set 28-26 after the Panthers ended the set with back-to-back errors.

Third sentence:

Pitt took control of the third set early, leading 14-10 with Stafford tallying five kills. But before the 15-point media timeout, the Cardinals went on a 3-1 run to make things even closer.

After the teams traded timeouts and the score was 19-16, Pitt took over. The Panthers ended the set with a 6-1 run. Kelley gave Pitt two points with a block and a kill, and Vazquez Gomez also contributed a kill and an ace.

Fourth sentence:

Pitt and Louisville battled back and forth early in the fourth set, tied at 16 points each. Louisville took the first step, going on a 6-2 run led by a block and a kill from graduate student outside hitter Anna DeBeer and two kills from senior outside hitter Charitie Luper.

However, Babcock wasn’t content to let the Cardinals take control at the end of the fourth set, as she scored back-to-back kills for the Panthers, forcing a Louisville timeout. But DeBeer and Luper responded by notching a kill each and helping the Cardinals win the fourth set 25-22.

Fifth sentence:

Pitt immediately took control after Louisville committed four errors. Louisville then called a timeout after falling behind 5-2.

But the Cardinals came right back, as a block and a kill helped them gain a lead. But Pitt once again took a three-point lead. Louisville trailed 10-7 and Kelly called the Cardinals’ second timeout of the set.

After Louisville’s timeout, the teams had two rallies that lasted longer than 30 seconds, showing the parity between the two teams. Pitt won one of the rallies and Louisville won the other, but Pitt gained a 13-10 lead.

“It’s a relief,” Vazquez Gomez said of winning the long rallies. “Back in the group we say, ‘Okay. Let’s take a breather, move on to the next one,”

But winning the second of two long rallies gave the Cardinals momentum, and DeBeer responded with two blocks of his own, forcing a Fisher timeout while his team led just 13-12.

The Cardinals’ momentum was halted by Pitt’s timeout. Buzletepe recorded the final two assists of the game and Bayless had a kill in the 14th for Pitt. The two subs for Pitt’s 6-2 substitutions closed things out for Pitt and helped them win a much-needed game against another top team in the country.

“I thought Nisa and Blaire took us. And when we came back to it in the fifth round, I thought both of them were willing to help and scored some important points,” Fisher said.

Pitt next hosts Notre Dame at Fitzgerald Field House on Sunday at 1 p.m. The game will be broadcast on ACCNX.