No. 6 Pitt Set for Home-and-Home Weekend with No. 4 Penn State

PITTSBURGH – The No. 6 Pitt volleyball team will kick off a home-and-home weekend against rival No. 4 Penn State Friday at 8 p.m. at Rec Hall in University Park, Pa.

Subsequently, the Nittany Lions will visit Pittsburgh for a 1 p.m. match Sunday at Petersen Events Center.

HOW TO FOLLOW

Friday's match will be nationally televised on Big Ten Network with an 8:05 p.m. ET first serve.
Live stats for Friday will be available at GoPSUSports.com.
ACC Network Extra will stream Sunday's match, starting at 1:02 p.m. ET.
Sunday's live stats will be available on PittsburghPanthers.com.
Fans can follow along during both matches with live updates on Twitter @Pitt_VB.

A WIN ON FRIDAY WOULD…

Be Pitt's highest-ranked victory in program history. The Panthers' current record is a 3-2 upset of No. 5 Notre Dame on Nov. 6, 2005.
Snap a 16-match slump against the Nittany Lions. Pitt's last win against Penn State was Nov. 8, 1987 (3-0) at Fitzgerald Field House.
Be Pitt's first when playing in University Park, Pa., since Oct. 4, 1980, snapping an 18-match losing streak.
Improve the Panthers' record to 28-1 when ranked inside the AVCA top 10 and 10-0 when ranked No. 6.

LAST TIME OUT

No. 6 Pitt went 3-0 on the west coast at the Pepperdine ASICS Classic (Sept. 13-14), defeating Cal Poly (3-1), No. 16 Utah (3-1) and the host Waves (3-2) in Malibu, Calif.
Junior outside hitter Kayla Lund led the Panthers with 4.23 kills per set for the weekend, hitting .260. She had two double-doubles and posted a career-high 21 digs against Pepperdine.
Classmate Chinaza Ndee had a career day against the Waves with 22 kills, hitting .541.
Redshirt senior outside hitter Stephanie Williams had a double-double in each match, with 3.08 kills and 3.38 digs per frame.
Sophomore middle Sabrina Starks made solid contributions on defense for the Panthers with a team-high 1.08 blocks per set.
ACC Freshman of the Week Lexis Akeo served up a team-best seven aces for the weekend and averaged 11.85 assists per set.

RANKING THE PANTHERS

Pitt stayed steady at No. 6 in the American Volleyball Coaches Association (AVCA) Poll for Week 3, as announced Monday afternoon.
The ranking marks the 14th week in program history that Pitt has landed among the top 10 programs in the NCAA.
Pitt was ranked in the top 10 for 11 consecutive weeks in 2018, from Sept. 10-Nov. 19.
The Panthers are 27-1 all-time when ranked inside the top 10, and 9-0 when ranked No. 6.

PANTHERS SWEEP ACC WEEKLY HONORS (AGAIN)

For the second time this season, the Panthers swept ACC weekly honors, with senior middle Layne Van Buskirk (Player of the Week) and freshman Lexis Akeo (Freshman of the Week) garnering the accolades, as announced by the conference Monday afternoon.
Van Buskirk was named ACC Player of the Week for the second time in her career, after earning the honor last season for the week of Nov. 19, 2018. Akeo picked up her second ACC Freshman of the Week nod, after earning the honors following the Panthers' first week of the 2019 regular season (Sept. 3).
Van Buskirk hit a team-best .421 for the week, with 51 kills. She averaged 3.00 kills per set, and posted a career-best 18 in a four-set win over Cal Poly (Sept. 13). In addition to her outstanding offensive performance, the Windsor, Ontario, native led the Panthers defensively with 1.00 block per set over four matches played.
Akeo paced the Panthers with 11.35 assists per set, including a career-best 58 in the Panthers' win over Cal Poly (Sept. 13). She served up a team-best nine aces for the week, with a career-high four in a five-set thriller at Pepperdine (Sept. 14). The Kapolei, Hawaii, native rounded out her stat sheet with 2.65 digs and 0.12 blocks per set for the week.

SCOUTING NO. 4 PENN STATE

The Nittany Lions enter the weekend at 6-1, with their most recent win coming in straight sets over No. 10 Oregon. Their lone loss of the season was against then-top-ranked Stanford last week.
Senior defensive specialist Kendall White had 12 digs against Oregon, giving her 1,608 for her career. She needs just 78 to reach second in program history.
Sophomore setter Gabby Blossom ranks third nationally and second in the Big Ten with 11.91 assists per set. Sophomore middle blocker Serena Gray is currently fourth in the nation and second in the Big Ten with a hitting percentage of .523.
As a team, Penn State ranks third nationally and leads the Big Ten with a .349 hitting percentage. They also rank fifth in the nation and second in the Big Ten in opponent hitting percentage, holding their competition to just .140.
The last time the two teams faced off, a top-ranked Penn State team knocked Pitt out of the 2017 NCAA Tournament in the second round, 3-1. Now-senior right side hitter Nika Markovic led the way for the Panthers with 16 kills and 12 digs in the match.
Penn State has won the last 16 matches against Pitt, with an all-time record of 33-19 against the Panthers.

GAMEDAY GUIDE

For information regarding Sunday's match at Petersen Events Center, fans should check out the Volleyball Gameday Guide on PittsburghPanthers.com.
Panther fans will be able to find links to tickets, live stats and live streaming in addition to parking and entrance information.
Doors at Petersen Events Center will open at 11:30 a.m. Sunday.
- Concourse A: General Public Entrance, General Public Will Call, General Public Ticket Sales
- Concourse C: Pitt Student-Athlete Guests Will Call, Visiting Team Will Call, Coaches' Guests Will Call, Recruits Entrance
- Panthers Ticket Office: General Public Ticket Sales, General Public Entrance, Student Entrance
The match is a Blueout, so rep your Royal Blue and cheer on the Panthers! The first 3,000 fans will receive Royal Blue pom-poms.
Match-Day exclusive gear will be available at The Pitt Shop in the lobby of the Petersen Events Center.

UP NEXT

The Panthers will begin ACC play at Virginia Wednesday, Sept. 25, with a 6:30 p.m. first serve on ACC Network in Charlottesville, Va.

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. 6 Pitt Set for Home-and-Home Weekend with No. 4 Penn State

Next Event

Players Mentioned

Lexis Akeo

Kayla Lund

Nika Markovic

Chinaza Ndee

Sabrina Starks

Layne Van Buskirk

Stephanie Williams

No. 6 Pitt Set for Home-and-Home Weekend with No. 4 Penn State

Next Event

Players Mentioned

Lexis Akeo

Kayla Lund

Nika Markovic

Chinaza Ndee

Sabrina Starks

Layne Van Buskirk

Stephanie Williams

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