Pitt gets first spot in Tampa as Panthers pull reverse sweep — again! — on Louisville
Aiko Jones of Louisville hits against the Pitt block of Chiamaka Nwokolo, left, and Torrey Stafford/Louisville photo
There was no way.
No way it could happen again.
But it did.
Pitt, down two sets to none on its home floor against ACC rival Louisville, didn’t just bounce back.
No, the Panthers woke up and absolutely destroyed Louisville after that, winning 23-25, 20-25, 25-16, 25-19, 15-7 in a reverse-sweep outcome eerily similar to what happened at Pitt just three weeks ago.
Now fourth-seeded Pittsburgh (29-4) will make its third trip in a row to the NCAA Tournament national semifinals, while fifth-seeded Louisville ends its season 27-5.
Pitt, playing the first match of four regional finals, will head to Tampa for the NCAA Division I Women’s Volleyball Championship, facing the winner of the later match between Nebraska and Arkansas.
Pitt freshman Torrey Stafford led with 18 kills, hitting .378, and had 11 digs and two blocks. Another freshman, Olivia Babcock, struggled each but finished with 16 kills, an assist, three aces, seven digs and five blocks. Babcock
Emma Monks, the graduate-student transfer middle from was spectacular, finishing with eight kills — including the match winner — and two errors in 15 attacks to hit .400 and had an assist and nine blocks, one solo. Chiamaka Nwokolo had six kills in 11 errorless attaccks to hit .545 and had five blocks, two solo. Valeria Vazquez Gomez struggled with eight kills but nine errors, but added an assist, four aces, eight digs and a block.
Rachel Fairbanks had a kill in two errorless tries, 48 assists, an ace, seven digs and three blocks. Her team hit .286.
The third set was tied 9-9 before the Panthers ran away. Stafford had six of her kills with no errors in eight attacks. Pitt hit .545 in the fifth set with seven kills and one error in 11 attacks, including three by Babcock in six errorless swings.
Louisville, which finished hitting .213, could not have started better. The Cardinals hit .333 in the first set and .300 in the second, but it was all downhill after that, especially in the fifth, when they had five kills but six errors.
Anna DeBeer had 13 kills, hit .135, and had an assist, eight digs and three blocks. Phekran Kong also had 13 kills and had just one error in 19 attacks to go with eight blocks. Aiko Jones, who had seven kills in as many swings to start the match, finished with nine, five errors, an assist, five digs and six blocks. Cara Cresse had nine kills with two errors in 18 swings to hit .389 and had an ace and five blocks, one solo.
Elle Glock had no kills, 39 assists, four digs and a block. Elena Scott had 10 digs, four assists and three aces.
In their first regular-season meeting, Louisville swept at home. Then on November 18 at Pitt, the Panthers also fell behind 2-0 before winning 19-25, 24-26, 26-24. ,25-21, 17-15.
The match started, as scheduled, at 4 p.m. Eastern. But viewers had to watch on ESPN+ until 13 minutes after the hour as ESPNU showed the end of a non-conference men’s basketball game between Grand Canyon and Liberty.
This story will be updated.
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