No Luck for Irish as No. 6 Pitt Volleyball Moves to 21-0

Friday, October 19

Pittsburgh, Pa.

7 PM EST

Pitt

21-0, 9-0

Notre Dame

11-8, 5-4

Notre Dame

Pitt

No Luck for Irish as No. 6 Pitt Volleyball Moves to 21-0

10/19/2018 10:50:00 PM | Volleyball

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Panthers Remain Unbeaten with Sweep of Notre Dame

PITTSBURGH – The No. 6 University of Pittsburgh volleyball team (21-0, 9-0 ACC) swept Notre Dame (11-8, 5-4 ACC) in front of a crowd of 2,011 fans at Fitzgerald Field House Friday night.

The crowd marked the second largest Pitt volleyball attendance at the Field House in program history, second only to 2,138 that watched a match between the Panthers and Penn State in 2011.

With eight kills on the night, redshirt junior outside Stephanie Williams gained sole possession of 10th place in the Pitt record book with 1,072 career kills.

Led by 16 kills from junior right side Nika Markovic, three Panthers reached double figures in the kill column, including junior middle Layne Van Buskirk (14) and sophomore outside Kayla Lund (10). Lund rounded out her team-leading ninth double-double with 10 digs.

Redshirt sophomore setter Kylee Levers had a team-high 27 assists, while senior Kamalani Akeo contributed 21. Redshirt senior libero Angela Seman produced a match-high 18 digs.

While Pitt led Notre Dame in kills (51-30) and digs (58-51), the Panthers were out-blocked, 10.0 to 9.0 for the match. Pitt hit .274 on the day in comparison to Notre Dame's percentage of .140.

WITH THE WIN…

The Panthers extended their best start to a season in school history, improving to 21-0.
Pitt extended its longest win streak since 1987, when the team won 24 consecutive matches.
The Panthers earned a 9-0 start to ACC play for the second consecutive season.
Pitt improved its 2018 home record to 15-0, and 6-0 against ACC opponents.
The Panthers extended their win streak against the Fighting Irish to two matches. Pitt has not lost to Notre Dame since Oct. 21, 2016, at Fitzgerald Field House (3-0).
Pitt earned its first win against Notre Dame when playing in Pittsburgh since Oct. 10, 2014.
The Panthers improved their all-time record against Notre Dame to 14-24 overall and 7-8 when playing in Pittsburgh.

Set One: No. 6 Pitt 25, Notre Dame 23

Pitt started the first set on a 3-0 run ending with a kill by Lund, giving the Panthers a 7-5 lead early on. Notre Dame took the lead after a 4-1 run, 13-12, and again on a 4-0 run to make it 18-14. Another 3-0 run for Pitt put the Panthers within one point, 21-20. After 13 ties and five lead changes, Pitt claimed the first set 25-23 on a 3-0 run with a kill by Van Buskirk.

Set Two: No. 6 Pitt 25, Notre Dame 17

Pitt began the second set on a 3-0 run, followed by an ace by Seman to take the lead 5-1. The Panthers improved to 11-7, with a kill by Markovic. After a 3-1 run, Notre Dame took the lead 12-10. Near the end of the set Pitt made another 4-0 run, bringing the score to 22-14. The Panthers won the second set 25-17, with a hitting percentage of .250 in the second set.

Set Three: No. 6 Pitt 25, Notre Dame 18

Pitt immediately took the lead in the third set with a 4-1 run, bringing the score to 11-9. An ace by Akeo put the Panthers ahead 16-12 in the middle of the set. Pitt surpassed Notre Dame once again following a 3-0 run, 22-16. The Panthers won the third set on a kill by Lund, 25-18, giving Pitt its ninth consecutive ACC win of the season.

UP NEXT

No. 6 Pitt will host a rematch between the 2017 ACC Co-Champions, facing No. 21 Louisville Sunday at 1 p.m. at Fitzgerald Field House. The match will be streamed live on ACC Network Extra, available via the WatchESPN app.

2018 PITT VOLLEYBALL TICKETS

Flex season ticket packages as well as single-match and group tickets for the 2018 volleyball season are now on sale and can be purchased by calling the Panthers' Ticket Office at (800) 643-PITT (7488) or online at PittsburghPanthers.com.

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