University of Pittsburgh Athletics
Pitt
(12-1)
LIU Brooklyn
(9-5)
Pitt Volleyball Defeats LIU Brooklyn in Four Sets
9/26/2014 12:00:00 AM | Volleyball
Box Score | Season Stats | Live Stats/Video - Boston College
PITTSBURGH - The University of Pittsburgh volleyball team (12-1, 0-0 ACC) defeated the Blackbirds of LIU Brooklyn (9-5, 0-0 NEC) Thursday night at the Fitzgerald Field house by a score of three sets to one. The Panthers won sets one, two and four [25-22, 26-24, 25-21] but dropped the third set, 22-25. This is Pitt's seventh straight win at home.
The Panthers were led by senior Jessica Wynn who recorded her fifth double-double of the season, tallying 15 kills and 16 digs against the Blackbirds. Wynn is just 24 kills away from 1,000 career kills. Also aiding in the Pitt win was Kate Yeazel, Amanda Orchard, Maria Genitsaridi and Casey Durham who all posted double-digit kill numbers. Orchard tied her career high kills number while hitting a .429 mark.
The Panthers first set 25-22 win came after a minor struggle in the beginning of the match. Pitt overcame a six point deficit early on in the set when LIU led 13-7. The Panthers quickly made up for that struggle, fighting back to tie the game at 15 all, forcing the Blackbirds to call a timeout. Pitt notched its first lead of the set, 16-15, when Jenna Jacobson tallied a service ace on the first serve back from the timeout. For the next ten points, the Panthers and Blackbirds traded points, bringing the set score to 21-20 with LIU leading. The Blackbirds scored to then lead by two which forced Pitt to take a timeout. Out of the timeout, the Wynn didn't hesitate to show off her hitting skills. Pitt scored five straight points to end the first set, all of which were kills by Wynn.
After a first set win, the Panthers stole a nail-biter second set from LIU by a score of 26-24. Genitsaridi led the way for Pitt with six kills on her 13 attempts (.462). While the Panthers trailed for most of the set they did not give up. Pitt took the lead when the score was 22-21. For the second consecutive set, back-and-forth points were traded late which forced the set to go into extra points. Durham recorded two kills at separate points in the set to give the Panthers two set points. On the second set point, an attack error by the Blackbirds solidified Pitt's win.
What looked to be a good start for the Panthers in the third set turned out to be a win for LIU. The Panthers took a fast 5-4 lead thanks to errors by the Blackbirds and kills by Potts, Durham and Orchard, but Pitt was unable to retain that lead. The Blackbirds continued ahead for the remainder of the set, up until the Panthers were able to tie the score at 21 on an Amanda Orchard kill. LIU Brooklyn scored four more points to Pitt's one to pull out the win and force a fourth set.
To no one's surprise, the fourth set was again a close match-up between Pitt and LIU. Ultimately the Panthers were victorious, taking home a 3-1 match win. Yeazel and Durham statistically led the way for Pitt in the final set, recording five and four kills respectively. Neither team came out strong at the beginning as nine of the first 16 points combined were recorded as attack errors and block combos. Pitt held a 9-7 lead during that point which the only gave up once when the Blackbirds tied the game, 18-18. Amanda Orchard recorded the final point of the game after crushing a kill to make it 25-21.
The Panthers return to action Sunday, Sept. 28 at 1 p.m. when they take on Boston College in their ACC debut. The match will take place on the Panther's home court at the Fitzgerald Field House and will also be broadcast live on ESPN3.
In-game updates will be available through the team's Twitter account @PittVolleyball. Live stats and the ESPN3 video feed can be found by clicking here.
