No. 2 Pitt Volleyball Rolls to Best ACC Start in Program History

Sunday, November 3

Pittsburgh, Pa.

NOON ET

Pitt

23-1, 12-0

Duke

11-14, 4-8

Duke

Pitt

No. 2 Pitt Volleyball Rolls to Best ACC Start in Program History

11/3/2019 2:43:00 PM | Volleyball

Box Score Box Score Box Score Season Stats Photo Gallery

Panthers Improve to 12-0 in ACC with Eighth Consecutive Sweep

PITTSBURGH – The league-leading No. 2 Pitt volleyball team (23-1, 12-0) earned its best start to ACC play in program history with a sweep of Duke (11-13, 4-7) Sunday at Fitzgerald Field House.

The sweep (25-18, 31-29, 25-10) was Pitt's eighth in a row, marking an all-time best for the program in ACC play. Pitt has won 25 consecutive sets dating back to a 3-1 victory at then-ranked No. 23 Florida State (Oct. 11.).

Three Panthers had double-figure kills, led by senior middle blocker Layne Van Buskirk (13) on .476 hitting. Junior right side Chinaza Ndee followed with 10 kills on .533 and added three blocks. Redshirt senior outside hitter Stephanie Williams posted 10 kills with five digs.

Sophomore middle Sabrina Starks led the blocking effort with five. She posted an efficient seven kills on nine attempts with no errors for a scorching .778 hitting percentage.

Freshman setter Lexis Akeo had 38 assists, while redshirt senior libero Hali Hillegas had a match-high 16 digs to go along with three assists.

As a unit, Pitt held Duke to .158 hitting while the Panthers posted a .337 percentage. Pitt bested the Blue Devils in kills (52-35), assists (50-34), service aces (3-1) and digs (47-28). Duke had the upper hand in blocks, 14.0-6.0.

WITH THE WIN…

The Panthers earned their best start to an ACC season in program history, improving to 12-0. Pitt started the 2018 ACC season at 11-0 before falling at Duke on Oct. 28, 2018 (3-1).
Pitt extended its longest winning streak when playing at Fitzgerald Field House to 32 consecutive matches. Pitt's last loss at the Field House came Oct. 22, 2017, against NC State (3-1).
The Panthers' improved record to 10-8 all-time against Duke and 3-4 when playing in Pittsburgh.
Pitt's winning streak against the Blue Devils extended to two matches. The Panthers' last loss to Duke came Oct. 28, 2018, in Durham, N.C.
The Panthers' winning streak when playing at home against Duke extended to three matches. Pitt's last loss to the Blue Devils at Fitzgerald Field House came Nov. 13, 2016 (3-0).
The Panthers' record improved to 40-2 when ranked inside the AVCA top 10 and 13-1 when ranked inside the top five.

SWEEP CITY

Dating back to an Oct. 11 win at Syracuse, Pitt has swept its last eight ACC opponents, marking the longest ACC sweep streak in program history.
At 12-0 in ACC play, the Panthers have won 36 out of 37 sets played, with the lone dropped frame coming at then-ranked No. 23 Florida State (Oct. 6, 3-1).
Pitt's current streak of eight striaght sweeps are the most for the program in any fashion since earning eight consecutive in 1991.

DID YOU KNOW?

The Panthers (23-1, 12-0) 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.

Set One: No. 2 Pitt 25, Duke 18

An early 3-0 run put the Panthers ahead, 9-4, and later a 4-1 run extended the margin to seven (14-7). The Blue Devils cut their deficit to just four after a 5-2 run, but Pitt was able to hold them off for a 25-18 win. Van Buskirk produced an impressive eight kills in the first set on nine attempts for a scorching .889 hitting percentage.

Set Two: No. 2 Pitt 31, Duke 29

The second set was much closer, with six ties and four lead changes. Despite a fast 6-1 start for the Panthers, a 4-0 Duke run cut the lead to two (11-9). Later, Pitt used a 7-1 run to gain an 18-10 lead, and a 3-0 run made it 22-13, but the Blue Devils responded with a 12-2 run to take a 25-24 lead and set point. Pitt survived two more set points from Duke and ended on a 3-0 run to win, 31-29, marking the Panthers' longest set of the season.

Set Three: No. 2 Pitt 25, Duke 10

Pitt surged out to a 7-0 start and did not look back. An 8-1 run gave Pitt a commanding 20-6 lead, and closed the match with a decisive 25-10 victory. The Panthers limited Duke to a negative hitting percentage (-.091) for the frame while hitting .476.

UP NEXT
No. 2 Pitt will stay at home to host Georgia Tech (Nov. 8) and Clemson (Nov. 10) at Fitzgerald Field House.

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.

#H2P | Twitter | Instagram | Facebook