University of Pittsburgh Athletics
Off Script: Champions
12/1/2017 11:56:00 AM | General, Volleyball
The Story of the 2017 Pitt Volleyball Team
"Amazing." That's the word that fifth-year Pitt volleyball head coach Dan Fisher, senior outside hitter Mariah Bell and redshirt junior libero Angela Seman all use to describe this season for the Panthers.
The 25-6 regular season. The 18-2 record in conference play. The ACC championship. The second consecutive berth in the NCAA Tournament. All of it has been… amazing.
"With the players we had coming back from last year and the newcomers that we had joining the team, we knew this group had a lot of potential," Fisher said. "But this season has been pretty amazing."
"It's been amazing to see the growth of this program," Bell agreed. "I have to give so much credit to the coaching staff, and this group of girls has developed a team culture that is so disciplined. The steady improvements we've made each season I've been here have been so much fun to watch."
"When I got here, I knew the program was moving on an upwards trajectory," added Seman. "But I don't think any of us expected to improve this quickly. To hold the ACC trophy was an amazing experience."
The process of getting to this point started five years prior when Fisher was named the head coach of a Pitt volleyball program that was struggling in the Big East, while preparing for a transition into the Atlantic Coast Conference.
For Fisher, taking the Panthers from a middle-of-the-pack Big East team to one of the ACC's powerhouses started with finding talented players that had a burning desire to improve as individuals while helping the collective cause.
"From the moment I got here, the culture of this program has been important," Fisher noted. "When you stop caring about culture, it's going to be bad. This group especially has done a great job of helping the coaching staff keep the culture strong. We talk a lot about want-to versus have-to. If you want to be a great volleyball player, you should want to practice hard and show pride in the program."
Seman, a Pittsburgh-area product from Seneca Valley High School who has played in every set for the Panthers this season, is one of those players who perfectly illustrates that "want-to" factor.
"Being from the Pittsburgh area, the opportunity to play at Pitt was a dream come true," Seman said. "But what made me really want to play here was Coach Fisher discussing how he makes his players better. I knew that he would help me become a more technical player, which was huge. I could've gone to a college where they play the gritty style I was used to in high school, but I wanted to play somewhere like Pitt where the coaches would help me become a more complete volleyball player."
Since Fisher became the eighth head coach in program history, the Panthers have steadily climbed the ACC standings. Fisher, whose career in the sport of volleyball includes stints as an assistant coach at Hawaii, San Francisco and Pacific, debuted as an NCAA Division I head coach at Pitt with a winning 11-9 ACC mark with Pitt in 2013. The Panthers won 13 conference games in 2014 and 2015 before reaching the 15-win tally in ACC play last season.
This year, with his youngest team at Pitt to date, Fisher led the Panthers to an incredible 18-2 record in ACC play, including memorable wins over Florida State, North Carolina and Notre Dame.
With Pitt's entire starting lineup eligible to return next season, the Panthers are primed for an era of unprecedented success as a top-25 and NCAA Tournament contender while competing for more conference championships in the ACC.
One key to this particular season's success, according to Fisher, has been the leadership and maturity of the group, from the team's two seniors to the talented group of freshmen.
"I've learned a lot about the importance of leadership this season," Fisher said. "We have two seniors who are such great leaders in Alex Rosignol and Mariah [Bell]. And it goes all the way down to our freshmen, who have really brought a lot of maturity to our team from the very first meetings in the summer. After this season, I have a better understanding of how little age has to do with leadership. Anyone can be a leader."
At some of the team's early-season meetings, the Panthers discussed goals for this campaign, including winning an ACC title. But as the season wore on, and when adversity hit in the form of a two-game skid in the middle of conference play, the players learned a lot about what it takes to go through the process of becoming a champion.
"At the beginning of the season, we talked about wanting to be ACC champions," Bell says. "But we quickly realized it's not that easy. It's about taking it one game at a time with each player focusing on excelling in their role every point, every set in order to help the team."
Following those difficult defeats to NC State and Louisville in the middle of ACC play, Pitt came together as a team and discussed what it needed to do next.
"After losing those two matches, we had a meeting and talked about how we should respond," Seman says. "We made it clear that we wanted to hold each other accountable, take it one game at a time and work hard for each other."
The result was an incredible run of success to finish the regular season. Knowing that they likely needed to win out in order to secure an ACC title and a berth in the NCAA Tournament, the Panthers pulled off nine consecutive victories, dropping just two sets in the process.
Capping off the regular season last weekend, Pitt dominated Virginia Tech and Virginia on the road, sweeping both contests to secure the first women's ACC team title in Pitt Athletics history.
With one monumental goal achieved, the Panthers have already shifted their focus to the NCAA Tournament and a first-round matchup against Atlantic 10 Tournament champ VCU, who went 30-2 this season with a perfect 14-0 mark in conference play. The Panthers and Rams will meet on Friday at 5 p.m. in State College, with the winner earning a likely matchup on Saturday evening against No. 1 seeded Penn State.
Amongst the coaching staff and players, there is a growing belief that Pitt has the potential to do something special in the NCAA Volleyball Tournament – both now and in the future.
"I absolutely believe Pitt can win a national championship in volleyball," says Bell. "Our biggest goal for this program is to compete for a national title, definitely. I believe 100 percent that it is possible here. Maybe even this year."
Regardless of what happens in the NCAA Tournament, the 2017 Pitt volleyball team will always be remembered as history-making champions.
"When these girls come back in the future and see that championship banner on the wall, that's going to be a special feeling for them," Fisher says. "That's something they can be proud of forever."
#H2P | Facebook | Twitter | Instagram
The 25-6 regular season. The 18-2 record in conference play. The ACC championship. The second consecutive berth in the NCAA Tournament. All of it has been… amazing.
"With the players we had coming back from last year and the newcomers that we had joining the team, we knew this group had a lot of potential," Fisher said. "But this season has been pretty amazing."
"It's been amazing to see the growth of this program," Bell agreed. "I have to give so much credit to the coaching staff, and this group of girls has developed a team culture that is so disciplined. The steady improvements we've made each season I've been here have been so much fun to watch."
"When I got here, I knew the program was moving on an upwards trajectory," added Seman. "But I don't think any of us expected to improve this quickly. To hold the ACC trophy was an amazing experience."
The process of getting to this point started five years prior when Fisher was named the head coach of a Pitt volleyball program that was struggling in the Big East, while preparing for a transition into the Atlantic Coast Conference.
For Fisher, taking the Panthers from a middle-of-the-pack Big East team to one of the ACC's powerhouses started with finding talented players that had a burning desire to improve as individuals while helping the collective cause.
"From the moment I got here, the culture of this program has been important," Fisher noted. "When you stop caring about culture, it's going to be bad. This group especially has done a great job of helping the coaching staff keep the culture strong. We talk a lot about want-to versus have-to. If you want to be a great volleyball player, you should want to practice hard and show pride in the program."
Seman, a Pittsburgh-area product from Seneca Valley High School who has played in every set for the Panthers this season, is one of those players who perfectly illustrates that "want-to" factor.
"Being from the Pittsburgh area, the opportunity to play at Pitt was a dream come true," Seman said. "But what made me really want to play here was Coach Fisher discussing how he makes his players better. I knew that he would help me become a more technical player, which was huge. I could've gone to a college where they play the gritty style I was used to in high school, but I wanted to play somewhere like Pitt where the coaches would help me become a more complete volleyball player."
Since Fisher became the eighth head coach in program history, the Panthers have steadily climbed the ACC standings. Fisher, whose career in the sport of volleyball includes stints as an assistant coach at Hawaii, San Francisco and Pacific, debuted as an NCAA Division I head coach at Pitt with a winning 11-9 ACC mark with Pitt in 2013. The Panthers won 13 conference games in 2014 and 2015 before reaching the 15-win tally in ACC play last season.
This year, with his youngest team at Pitt to date, Fisher led the Panthers to an incredible 18-2 record in ACC play, including memorable wins over Florida State, North Carolina and Notre Dame.
With Pitt's entire starting lineup eligible to return next season, the Panthers are primed for an era of unprecedented success as a top-25 and NCAA Tournament contender while competing for more conference championships in the ACC.
One key to this particular season's success, according to Fisher, has been the leadership and maturity of the group, from the team's two seniors to the talented group of freshmen.
"I've learned a lot about the importance of leadership this season," Fisher said. "We have two seniors who are such great leaders in Alex Rosignol and Mariah [Bell]. And it goes all the way down to our freshmen, who have really brought a lot of maturity to our team from the very first meetings in the summer. After this season, I have a better understanding of how little age has to do with leadership. Anyone can be a leader."
At some of the team's early-season meetings, the Panthers discussed goals for this campaign, including winning an ACC title. But as the season wore on, and when adversity hit in the form of a two-game skid in the middle of conference play, the players learned a lot about what it takes to go through the process of becoming a champion.
"At the beginning of the season, we talked about wanting to be ACC champions," Bell says. "But we quickly realized it's not that easy. It's about taking it one game at a time with each player focusing on excelling in their role every point, every set in order to help the team."
Following those difficult defeats to NC State and Louisville in the middle of ACC play, Pitt came together as a team and discussed what it needed to do next.
"After losing those two matches, we had a meeting and talked about how we should respond," Seman says. "We made it clear that we wanted to hold each other accountable, take it one game at a time and work hard for each other."
The result was an incredible run of success to finish the regular season. Knowing that they likely needed to win out in order to secure an ACC title and a berth in the NCAA Tournament, the Panthers pulled off nine consecutive victories, dropping just two sets in the process.
Capping off the regular season last weekend, Pitt dominated Virginia Tech and Virginia on the road, sweeping both contests to secure the first women's ACC team title in Pitt Athletics history.
With one monumental goal achieved, the Panthers have already shifted their focus to the NCAA Tournament and a first-round matchup against Atlantic 10 Tournament champ VCU, who went 30-2 this season with a perfect 14-0 mark in conference play. The Panthers and Rams will meet on Friday at 5 p.m. in State College, with the winner earning a likely matchup on Saturday evening against No. 1 seeded Penn State.
Amongst the coaching staff and players, there is a growing belief that Pitt has the potential to do something special in the NCAA Volleyball Tournament – both now and in the future.
"I absolutely believe Pitt can win a national championship in volleyball," says Bell. "Our biggest goal for this program is to compete for a national title, definitely. I believe 100 percent that it is possible here. Maybe even this year."
Regardless of what happens in the NCAA Tournament, the 2017 Pitt volleyball team will always be remembered as history-making champions.
"When these girls come back in the future and see that championship banner on the wall, that's going to be a special feeling for them," Fisher says. "That's something they can be proud of forever."
#H2P | Facebook | Twitter | Instagram
Players Mentioned
Pitt Athletics | Panthers' Choice Recap
Monday, April 20
Pitt Athletics | The 2026 Panthers' Choice Awards Trailer 🎬
Monday, April 13
Pitt Athletics | Presenting the Victory Heights Arena and Sports Performance Center.
Monday, April 13
Pitt Cheer | Watch the Panther cheer team compete at nationals in Daytona!
Sunday, April 12