No. 6 Pitt Volleyball Tops No. 21 Cards, Breaks Attendance Record

Sunday, October 21

Pittsburgh, Pa.

1 PM EST

Pitt

22-0, 10-0

Louisville

16-5, 9-1

Louisville

Pitt

Photo by: Jeffrey Gamza/Pitt Athletics

No. 6 Pitt Volleyball Tops No. 21 Cards, Breaks Attendance Record

10/21/2018 6:12:00 PM | Volleyball

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Panthers Remain Atop ACC Standings with 3-1 Win over Louisville

PITTSBURGH – The No. 6 University of Pittsburgh volleyball team overcame a 10-point deficit in the fourth set to defeat No. 21 Louisville, 3-1, in front of a program-record attendance of 2,152 at Fitzgerald Field House Sunday afternoon.

Two sets ascended into extra points as the Panthers (22-0, 10-0 ACC) claimed the match 25-22, 26-24, 26-28, 25-20 over the Cardinals (16-5, 9-1 ACC) to remain atop the ACC volleyball standings at 10-0.

In a battle between the defending ACC Co-Champions, Pitt trailed by as many as 10 (16-6) in the fourth frame and later used a 15-1 run to gain a 21-17 advantage and never looked back. The Panthers closed the match with a 25-20 win in the fourth set.

The attendance number surpassed the 2,138 that viewed a match between Pitt and Penn State on Sept. 2, 2011.

Three Panthers recorded double-doubles as redshirt junior outside hitter Stephanie Williams led the way with a season-high 17 kills for Pitt on .333 hitting, and posted 10 digs. Sophomore outside Kayla Lund had 14 kills and a match-high 15 digs for her team-leading 10th double-double. Junior middle Layne Van Buskirk contributed 10 kills and a career-high 12 blocks.

Junior right side Nika Markovic served up four aces while recording a well-rounded stat line of nine kills, five assists, nine digs and five blocks.

Redshirt sophomore setter Kylee Levers had 23 assists for Pitt and senior Kamalani Akeo posted 18. Redshirt senior libero Angela Seman had 11 digs and two service aces for the Panthers.

The Cards had a slight advantage in nearly every statistic: kills (55-54), assists (52-49), digs (52-51), blocks (16.0-14.0) and hitting percentage (.193-.188).

WITH THE WIN…

The Panthers extended their best start to a season in school history, improving to 22-0.
Pitt extended its longest win streak since 1987, when the team won 24 consecutive matches.
The Panthers earned their best start to ACC play in program history, improving to 10-0.
Pitt earned its third win against a ranked opponent this season (No. 24 Cal Poly: 3-1, Aug. 24; No. 12 Washington: 3-0, Sept. 8).
Pitt improved its 2018 home record to 16-0, and 7-0 against ACC opponents.
The Panthers earned their first win against Louisville since a sweep at Fitzgerald Field House on Oct. 23, 2016.
The Panthers extended their win streak against the Cardinals when playing in Pittsburgh to three matches. Pitt's last loss to Louisville at Fitzgerald Field House came Sept. 30, 2012 (3-0)
The Panthers improved their all-time record against Louisville to 10-14 overall and 7-5 when playing in Pittsburgh.
Pitt earned its first win against a ranked Louisville team (now 1-4 all-time).

Set One: No. 6 Pitt 25, No. 21 Louisville 22

Pitt claimed the first point of the match, followed by a 3-0 run by Louisville to give the Cardinals the lead, 3-1. The Panthers re-gained the lead for the second time after a 6-0 run to make it 15-13. Louisville returned with a 3-0 run to move ahead of the Panthers, 16-15. Another 4-1 run put the Panthers up 21-19, allowing Pitt to win the first set 25-22. The Panthers out-hit the Cardinals, .105 to .083, in the set.

Set Two: No. 6 Pitt 26, No. 21 Louisville 24

Louisville used a 4-0 run to earn an early 5-2 lead. The Panthers answered with a 3-0 run to tie the match, 5-5. Another 6-0 run put Pitt up 11-6, followed by a 3-0 run for Louisville to regain the lead 14-13. The Panthers took over the lead on a 3-0 run at the end of the second set, 23-22. Pitt triumphed over the Cardinals to win the second set 26-23 after a block by Van Buskirk and Williams.

Set Three: No. 21 Louisville 28, No. 6 Pitt 26

It was another slow start for Pitt as a 4-0 run put the Cardinals up 6-3. In the middle of the set, Pitt accumulated a 6-1 run to surpass Louisville, 15-14. Pitt bolstered another 4-0 run, 22-19, that was immediately met by Louisville in a 4-0 run of its own, taking the lead back 23-22. Louisville won the third set 28-26 with a .289 hitting percentage with 20 kills.

Set Four: No. 6 Pitt 25, No. 21 Louisville 20

Louisville took the early lead again in the fourth set, with a 3-0 run to start. The Cardinals put up another 3-1 run to improve to 13-4. With Pitt trailing 16-6, the momentum swung heavily as the Panthers put together a 15-1 run to claim the lead, 21-17, behind some consistent and aggressive serving by Markovic. A 3-1 run gave the Panthers the fourth set, capped with a kill by Lund.

UP NEXT

No. 6 Pitt will head back to North Carolina for matches at Wake Forest (Oct. 26) and Duke (Oct. 28). Each 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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