No. 10 Pitt Looks to Secure ACC Championship Outright at Miami

Sunday, November 18

Coral Gables, Fla.

1 PM EST

Pitt

Miami

No. 10 Pitt Looks to Secure ACC Championship Outright at Miami

11/17/2018 8:21:00 PM | Volleyball

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Panthers Clinched Share of Title Friday

PITTSBURGH – After clinching at least a share of the ACC Championship Friday, the No. 10 Pitt volleyball team (27-1, 15-1 ACC) will look to secure the title outright at Miami (13-10, 9-7 ACC) Sunday at 1 p.m. at Knight Complex.

HOW TO FOLLOW

Pitt's match can be seen live on ACC Network Extra via WatchESPN.
Live stats will be available via HurricaneSports.com.
Fans can follow along with live updates on Twitter @Pitt_VB.

A WIN WOULD…

Secure the 2018 ACC Volleyball Championship outright for the Panthers. Pitt earned at least a share of the title with a 3-1 win at Florida State Friday in Tallahassee, Fla.
Mark Pitt's most wins in a season (28) since the Panthers went 28-9 (7-0) in 1991, winning both the Big East Regular Season and Big East Tournament Championships.
Mark the Panthers' most wins in a season under sixth-year head coach Dan Fisher (28).
Extend the Panthers' best start to a season in school history, improving to 28-1.
Extend Pitt's best start to ACC play in program history, improving to 16-1.
Improve the Panthers' 2018 away record to 9-1, and 8-1 against ACC opponents.
Extend the Panthers' win streak against the Hurricanes to six matches. The Panthers won the team's previous meeting this season, 3-0, at Fitzgerald Field House in Pittsburgh (Sept. 28).
Improve the Panthers' all-time record against the Hurricanes to 9-4 overall and 4-2 when playing in Miami.
Be Pitt's third consecutive win at Knight Complex. The Panthers' last loss in Miami came Oct. 11, 2013 (3-0).

CHAMPYINZ (AGAIN)

For the second consecutive season, Pitt clinched at least a share of the ACC Championship with a 3-1 win at Florida State Friday night at Tully Gym.
The win marks the second ACC title for the program, after earning its first as co-champion with Louisville in 2017. A win for Pitt at Miami Sunday would secure the 2018 title outright for the Panthers.
The Panthers earned an automatic bid to the 2018 NCAA Tournament, marking its third consecutive appearance and 16th overall.

LAST TIME OUT

No. 10 Pitt defeated Florida State Friday, 3-1, by scores of 25-22, 25-21, 20-25 and 25-19.
Junior right side Nika Markovic led the Panthers with a match-high 18 kills on .256 hitting. She had a double-double with 14 digs and added five blocks and two assists.
Sophomore outside Kayla Lund recorded her team-high 12th double-double of the year with 13 kills and 13 digs. The Panthers' middles, sophomore Chinaza Ndee and junior Layne Van Buskirk, each posted 10 kills.
Senior setter Kamalani Akeo had a match-high 30 assists and redshirt senior libero Angela Seman had 18 digs.
As a team, the Panthers out-hit the Seminoles, .195 to .164, and out-blocked Florida State 15.0-14.0. Pitt had the advantage in kills (60-46), assist (58-43) and digs (69-58).

LAST TIME AGAINST MIAMI (SEPT. 28, 2018)

A strong defensive effort helped Pitt earn its third consecutive sweep of an ACC opponent, winning 25-15, 25-8, 25-13 against Miami at Fitzgerald Field House.
Pitt's defensive prowess held Miami to a negative percentage in the attacking column at -.023, with 22 kills and 24 errors on 86 attempts. The Hurricanes had four players register negative percentages. Pitt had just eight errors of its own on the day, with 31 kills to hit .377.
Sophomore outside hitter Kayla Lund led Pitt with a hitting percentage of .471 with 10 kills and two errors on 17 attempts. Fellow outside Stephanie Williams followed with six kills and one error on 12 attempts to hit .417. Junior middle Layne Van Buskirk had five kills and was one of three Panthers to post four blocks, including Chinaza Ndee and Williams.
Senior setter Kamalani Akeo recorded 11 assists, and redshirt sophomore Kylee Levers had nine. Redshirt senior libero Angela Seman had a match-high 12 digs against the Hurricanes.

RANKING THE PANTHERS

Pitt held steady at No. 10 for the third consecutive week in the American Volleyball Coaches Association (AVCA) Coaches Poll, following a sweep of Duke, Sunday.
This marks the Panthers' 10th consecutive week ranked in the top 10.
Pitt's top ranking prior to the 2018 season came in 1990 when the squad was No. 17.
The Panthers held at No. 9 in the seventh release of the NCAA Volleyball Rating Percentage Index (RPI), released Monday, Nov. 12.

LUND EARNS THIRD ACC WEEKLY HONOR

Sophomore outside hitter Kayla Lund of was named ACC Player of the Week for the third time this season, as announced by the conference Monday afternoon.
The honor is the third of her career, as well as her third of the season (Aug. 27, Sept. 10). She and Payton Caffrey of Florida State lead the ACC with three awards apiece.
As a team, the Panthers have racked up the most ACC weekly honors this season of any team in the league with five. Three different Panthers, including Lund, Nika Markovic (Oct. 8) and Stephanie Williams (Oct. 22) have earned the accolades this year.
Lund led No. 10 Pitt with 4.33 kills per set in a sweep of Duke (25-20, 25-17, 25-17) Sunday at Fitzgerald Field House in front of a program-record crowd of 3,179. The Pasadena, Calif., native hit .440 on the day with 13 kills, while adding three digs and two blocks. With the win Sunday, the Panthers remain atop the ACC standings at 14-1.

SCOUTING THE HURRICANES

Miami (13-10, 9-7 ACC) is looking to snap a four-match loss streak when the Panthers visit Sunday. The Hurricanes have yet to win in the month of November, with their last win coming against Virginia Tech Oct. 26 (3-0).
The Hurricanes are 9-2 when playing at Knight Complex, dropping matches to FGCU (3-0, Aug. 25) and Clemson (3-0, Oct. 19).
Kolby Bird paces Miami with 3.25 kills per set, and Elizaveta Lukianova following with 3.18.

THE SERIES – MIAMI

Sunday will be the 13th meeting between Florida State and Pitt, with the Panthers leading the series, 8-4. Pitt won the previous five contests between the teams, including a Sept. 28 meeting at Fitzgerald Field House (3-0).

The Panthers are 3-2 all-time when playing in Miami, winning the last two meetings at Knight Complex. Pitt's last loss in Miami came Oct. 11, 2013 (3-0).

UP NEXT

No. 10 Pitt volleyball's regular season finale, dubbed "Party at The Pete," will be held Wednesday, Nov. 21, against Georgia Tech at 7 p.m. at Petersen Events Center.

Fans may purchase tickets by calling the Panthers' Ticket Office at (800) 643-PITT (7488) or by ordering online at PittsburghPanthers.com.
The match will be streamed live on ACC Network Extra, available via the WatchESPN app.

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