No. 10 Pitt Ready to Party at The Pete Wednesday

Wednesday, November 21

Pittsburgh, Pa.

7 PM EST

Pitt

Georgia Tech

Tickets

No. 10 Pitt Ready to Party at The Pete Wednesday

11/20/2018 9:00:00 AM | Volleyball

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Panthers to Close Regular Season at Petersen Events Center

PITTSBURGH – The 2018 ACC Champion, 10th-ranked Pitt (28-1, 16-1 ACC) will host Georgia Tech (17-12, 6-10 ACC) in the first volleyball match held at Petersen Events Center, dubbed "Party at The Pete," Wednesday at 7 p.m.

The match marks the regular-season finale for the Panthers, who hold an automatic bid to the 2018 NCAA Tournament.

HOW TO FOLLOW

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

A WIN WOULD…

Mark Pitt's most wins in a season (29) since the Panthers went 32-6 (7-0) in 1990, 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 (29).
Secure the Panthers' highest regular season winning percentage in program history at .967 (29-1).
Secure Pitt's highest ACC season winning percentage in program history at .944 (17-1).
Mark Pitt's fewest regular-season losses in program history (29-1; previous record: 18-2, 1975).
Improve the Panthers' 2018 home record to 18-0, and 9-0 against ACC opponents.
Secure Pitt's third unbeaten home regular season in program history (18-0), and its first since going 16-0 in 1987. The Panthers' only other unbeaten home season was in 1975 (13-0).
Extend the Panthers' win streak against the Yellow Jackets to eight matches. Pitt won the teams' previous meeting this season, 3-0, at in Atlanta (Nov. 2).
Improve Pitt's all-time record against Georgia Tech to 8-1 overall and 4-0 when playing in Pittsburgh.

CHAMPYINZ (AGAIN)

The Panthers secured their first outright ACC Volleyball Championship in program history with a 3-2 win at Miami Sunday.
It marks the second consecutive title for the Panthers after earning a share of the championship last season with Louisville.
The Panthers earned an automatic bid to the 2018 NCAA Tournament, marking its third consecutive appearance and 16th overall.

RANKING THE PANTHERS

Pitt held steady at No. 10 for the fourth consecutive week in the American Volleyball Coaches Association (AVCA) Coaches Poll, following a 2-0 road weekend at Florida State (3-1) and Miami (3-2).
This marks the Panthers' 11th 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 rose two spots to No. 7 in the eighth release of the NCAA Volleyball Rating Percentage Index (RPI), released Monday, Nov. 19.

LAST TIME OUT

No. 10 Pitt claimed the outright 2018 ACC title with a five-set win at Miami Sunday at Knight Sports Complex.
The Hurricanes pushed Pitt to its second five-set match of the season (22-25, 25-17, 25-22, 24-26, 15-13). The Panthers last played five sets in a 3-2 win over Kennesaw State Sept. 7 at Fitzgerald Field House.
For the second consecutive match, junior right side Nika Markovic led Pitt in kills, posting a season-high 19. She added five digs, five blocks and three service aces. Junior outside hitter Stephanie Williams followed with 16 kills, eight digs and three service aces. Sophomore outside Kayla Lund and junior middle Layne Van Buskirk each posted 11 kills. Lund rounded out her 13th double-double of the year with 12 digs, and Van Buskirk contributed a match-high nine blocks.
Senior setter Kamalani Akeo led the Panthers with 34 assists and added eight digs. Redshirt senior libero Angela Seman also had eight digs.
The Panthers out-hit the Canes, .277 to .257. The teams each posted 66 kills and 64 assists. Pitt had the upper hand in blocks (15.0-11.0), while the Canes had more digs (45-43).

VAN BUSKIRK NAMED ACC PLAYER OF THE WEEK

Junior middle hitter Layne Van Buskirk earned ACC Player of the Week honors for the first time in her career, as announced Monday.
Van Buskirk led No. 10 Pitt to a 2-0 pivotal road weekend in which the Panthers claimed the outright ACC title, earning their second consecutive league championship. The 6-foot-3 middle recorded a team-high 1.78 blocks per set, including a match-point block at Miami to secure the outright title. She posted seven blocks at Florida State and followed up that performance with nine blocks at Miami, including two solos. She hit .405 for the weekend with 2.33 kills per set.
The Windsor, Ontario, native is the fourth Panther to earn ACC weekly honors this season, in addition to sophomore outside Kayla Lund (Aug. 27, Sept. 10, Nov. 12) , junior right side Nika Markovic (Oct. 8) and redshirt junior outside Stephanie Williams (Oct. 22). As a team, the Panthers have racked up the most ACC weekly honors this season of any team in the league with six.

LAST TIME AGAINST GEORGIA TECH (NOV. 2, 2018)

Junior middle hitter Layne Van Buskirk posted a blistering attack percentage of .824 with a match-high 14 kills as Pitt bounced back from its first (and only) loss with a sweep of Georgia Tech at O'Keefe Gymnasium.
The Panthers hit a season-best .429 against the Yellow Jackets, with 46 kills on 91 attempts and just seven errors.
Van Buskirk's attack percentage is a season best. Her 14 kills came on 17 attempts with zero errors, and she led the Panthers with six blocks.
Junior right side Nika Markovic was the only other Panther with double figures in the kill column (12), hitting .385. Sophomore outside Kayla Lund was close to a double-double with nine digs and eight kills and contributed a career-high five service aces.
Senior setter Kamalani Akeo paced Pitt with 22 assists and nine digs.
The Panthers handily out-killed Georgia Tech (46-33) and had the upper hand in assists (44-31), digs (39-33) and blocks (8.0-4.0). Pitt held the Yellow Jackets to .198 attacking success.

SCOUTING THE YELLOW JACKETS

Georgia Tech (17-12, 6-10 ACC) won two of its three matches since facing Pitt last on Nov. 2, most recently defeating Virginia, 3-1, Friday in Charlottesville, Va.
The Yellow Jackets are 2-6 when playing on the road this season and 2-5 in ACC play. Georgia Tech's two ACC road wins came at Duke (3-1, Oct. 14) and at Virginia (3-1, Nov. 16).
Freshman outside hitter Mikaila Dowd leads the Yellow Jackets with 3.61 kills per set. Junior middle Kodie Comby is the team leader in blocks with 1.04 per set.

THE SERIES – GEORGIA TECH

Wednesday will be the ninth meeting between Georgia Tech and Pitt, with the Panthers leading the series, 7-1.
Pitt has won every meeting except the first (Aug. 24, 2007; 3-1) and is unbeaten against the Yellow Jackets when playing in Pittsburgh (3-0).

UP NEXT

Holding an automatic bid to the 2018 NCAA Tournament, the No. 10 Panthers will learn their seeding and first round competition during the NCAA Selection Show, set for 8:30 p.m. ET Sunday on ESPNU.

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