Pitt
Marquette
Women's Volleyball Comes Back In Five-Game Thriller
10/27/2007 12:00:00 AM | Volleyball
Oct. 27, 2007
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PITTSBURGH--In a repeat from last season, where Pitt's volleyball team played a five-game match against Marquette, the Panthers were once again victorious with a 3-2 win. Pitt improved its home win streak to nine with scores of 30-25, 29-31, 14-30, 30-22 and 15-10.
Led by four Panthers, Pitt returned from a 2-1 deficit to win the last two games and the match. Sophomore Michelle Rossi (Cleveland, Ohio/Padua Franciscan) recorded a career-high 32 digs in the match, besting her previous high of 31 against Notre Dame, last year.
Posting another career-high, sophomore Meagan Dooley (West Chester, Ohio/Lakota West) powered 23 kills in the match, which outplayed her 2006 mark of 20.
Senior Diana Andreyko (Pittsburgh, Pa./Baldwin) and junior Kelly Campbell (Mansfield, Ohio/Mansfield/Pacific) tallied double-doubles in the win. Andreyko posted 17 kills and 13 digs, while Campbell totaled 18 kills and 11 digs.
The match began the Panthers won the first three points off Campbell's serve in game one. Marquette then rallied a 6-6 tie in the game, keeping the game close as the Panthers and Golden Eagles remained tied at 12. Several plays later, Dooley attacked a long pass from Marquette's back row that gave Pitt a 17-12 lead.
Pitt improved to a 20-14 lead, but Marquette battled back and closed the gap to 23-20, forcing a Panther timeout. After the timeout, Pitt won the sideout and junior Jessica Moses (North Olmstead, Ohio/Lutheran West) gave Pitt a 25-20 lead with an ace that fell just inside the left line. Pitt would go on to the win at 30-25.
Set to force a fifth game after dropping two, Pitt took a 14-10 lead in game four after Dooley attacked a long pass.
Later, Andreyko recorded an ace in the game, following a kill from Dooley, to lift Pitt to a 23-18 advantage. The Panthers then went on to win the game with a kill from Campbell on the weak side. Campbell led the team with seven kills in game four, while Rossi recorded 13 digs in the game. Rossi held her career-high through the first four games.
In the tiebreaker, the teams switched sides when Marquette to an 8-7 lead. On a 5-1 run, senior Melissa Ferguson (Pittsburgh, Pa./Baldwin) served an ace to give Pitt a 13-9 lead. Although the Panthers would lose the serve two plays later, Pitt still held match point when Campbell caught two Golden Eagle defenders off guard with a long pass.
Earlier in the match, Andreyko lifted Pitt to a 6-2 lead in game two with a kill from the left side. Block assists from Moses and sophomore Melissa Stadelman (Pittsburgh, Pa./Carrick) gave Pitt a 10-6 lead later in the game, but Marquette posted a 4-1 run that forced a Panther timeout.
A back serve from freshman Emily Burke (Indianapolis, Ind./Cathedral) set Dooley for a kill on one play, but another Golden Eagle long pass led to a back-to-back kills for Dooley in the middle.
Once up 16-13 in the game, Pitt took a 23-21 deficit, but a kill from Stadelman moments later tied the game at 23.
Dooley then perfectly placed a ball behind the Marquette back row to give the Panthers a 27-25 lead. Later Pitt would hold a game point at 29-27, but were held scoreless for four rallies and would lose the game 31-29.
Marquette then took a 2-1 lead in the match with a 30-14 win in game three, as Pitt committed 18 errors and were held to a -.025 hitting percentage.
The Panthers face Syracuse at 2 p.m. tomorrow.
