No. 2 Pitt Looks to Defend Home Court against Wake Forest

PITTSBURGH – The ACC-leading No. 2 Pitt volleyball team (21-1, 10-0) will look to defend its program-record 30-match win streak when playing at Fitzgerald Field House as the Panthers host Wake Forest (11-10, 1-9) Friday night at 7 p.m. ET.

HOW TO FOLLOW

Pitt's match can be streamed on ACC Network Extra.
Live stats will be available at PittsburghPanthers.com.
Fans can follow along with live updates on Twitter and Instagram, both @Pitt_VB.
Tickets may be purchased by calling the Panthers' Ticket Office at (800) 643-PITT (7488) or online at PittsburghPanthers.com.

A WIN WOULD…

Tie the Panthers' best start to an ACC season in program history, improving to 11-0. Pitt started the 2018 ACC season at 11-0 before falling at Duke on Oct. 28, 2018 (3-1).
Be Pitt's 31st consecutive victory when playing at Fitzgerald Field House. The Panthers' 30 wins in a row at the facility are a school record. Pitt's last loss at the Field House came Oct. 22, 2017, against NC State (3-1).
Improve Pitt's record to 8-1 all-time against Wake Forest and 4-0 when playing in Pittsburgh.
Extend the Panthers' winning streak against the Demon Deacons to four matches. Pitt's last (and only) loss to Wake Forest came Oct. 9, 2016, in Winston-Salem, N.C.
Improve the Panthers' record to 39-2 when ranked inside the AVCA top 10 and 12-1 when ranked inside the top five.

DID YOU KNOW?

The Panthers (21-1, 10-0) are the lone Division I volleyball team to outscore each of their 2019 opponents.
Despite its lone loss to then-ranked No. 4 Penn State (Sept. 22), the Panthers outscored the Nittany Lions in five sets (26-28, 25-21, 21-25, 25-20, 14-16), 111-110.

NEW HEIGHTS

Pitt earned its highest American Volleyball Coaches Association (AVCA) ranking in program history Monday, moving up one spot to No. 2.
The ranking is the highest ever for an ACC volleyball team. The previous high was No. 3, earned by Pitt in 2019 and by Florida State in 2014.
The ranking marks the 20th week in program history that Pitt has landed among the top 10 programs in the NCAA, and the seventh week ever in the top five.
The Panthers are 38-2 all-time when ranked inside the top 10, and 11-1 when ranked in the top five.
Pitt moved up two spots to No. 5 in the NCAA Volleyball RPI, as released Monday.

AKEO SETS PITT VOLLEYBALL RECORD

Setter Lexis Akeo has set a Pitt record with her fifth ACC Freshman of the Week honor, as announced Monday afternoon. She surpassed the previous program record of four ACC Freshman of the Week honors earned by teammate Kayla Lund in 2017.
The Kapolei, Hawaii, native continued to handle all setting responsibilities as Pitt swept its toughest ACC road trip of the season, at (RV) Notre Dame (Oct. 25) and (RV) Louisville (Oct. 27). She led the Panthers with 11.17 assists per set over the two matches. The rookie produced 30 assists against the Fighting Irish and had 37 assists with two kills against the Cardinals. She added 1.17 digs per frame.

SWEEP CITY

Dating back to an Oct. 11 win at Syracuse, Pitt has swept its last six ACC opponents, marking the longest ACC sweep streak in program history.
At 10-0 in ACC play, the Panthers have won 30 out of 31 sets played, with the lone dropped frame coming at then-ranked No. 23 Florida State (Oct. 6, 3-1).
Pitt's current streak of six consecutive sweeps (in addition to its six sweeps to open the 2019 season) are the most for the program in any fashion since earning eight consecutive in 1991.

LAST TIME OUT

Four Panthers recorded double-figure kills for Pitt in a sweep at (RV) Louisville Sunday afternoon at L&N Federal Credit Union Arena. With the win, the Panthers remained in sole possession of the ACC lead with a two-match advantage.
Junior outside hitter Kayla Lund led the quartet of double-figure killers with 11 on .217, and added eight digs. Junior right side Chinaza Ndee, senior middle Layne Van Buskirk and redshirt senior Stephanie Williams had 10 kills apiece. Williams hit .444 for the match.
Freshman setter Lexis Akeo posted 37 assists and two kills, and redshirt senior libero Hali Hillegas contributed a team-best nine digs. Sophomore middle Sabrina Starks led the blocking effort with five.
Pitt had the advantage in kills (47-32), assists (44-31), service aces (4-0) and digs (28-23). The Panthers out-hit the Cardinals, .255-.146.

SCOUTING WAKE FOREST

The Demon Deacons (11-10, 1-9) will look to snap a seven-match slump when they visit No. 2 Pitt Friday night. Wake Forest's last win came Oct. 4 at Syracuse (3-1), marking its lone ACC victory so far this season.
Wake Forest is 4-5 when playing on the road this season.
The Demon Deacons are 0-2 when playing against teams ranked in the AVCA Top 25 this season, dropping matches against then-ranked No. 23 Florida State (Sept. 29, 3-0) and No. 25 Louisville (Oct. 13, 3-0).
Freshman outside/right side Peyton Suess leads Wake Forest with 3.32 kills per set and ranks fourth in the ACC with 0.44 service aces per frame.

UP NEXT

No. 2 Pitt will host Duke Sunday at noon ET at Fitzgerald Field House on RSN. Broadcast affiliates can be found at TheACC.com.

PITT VOLLEYBALL TICKETS

Flex season ticket packages as well as single-match and group tickets for the 2019 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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No. 2 Pitt Looks to Defend Home Court against Wake Forest

Next Event

Players Mentioned

Lexis Akeo

Hali Hillegas

Kayla Lund

Chinaza Ndee

Sabrina Starks

Layne Van Buskirk

Stephanie Williams

No. 2 Pitt Looks to Defend Home Court against Wake Forest

Next Event

Players Mentioned

Lexis Akeo

Hali Hillegas

Kayla Lund

Chinaza Ndee

Sabrina Starks

Layne Van Buskirk

Stephanie Williams

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