Saturday, September 7
Pittsburgh, Pa.
1 PM ET
Pitt
5-0
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Green Bay
5-1
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Green Bay
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Pitt
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No. 10 Panthers Topple Green Bay for Fifth Sweep
9/7/2019 3:22:00 PM | Volleyball
Lund Records Career-High Hitting Percentage
PITTSBURGH – For the fourth time in program history, the No. 10 Pitt volleyball team (5-0) posted five consecutive sweeps to begin a season with a drubbing of Green Bay (5-1) in straight sets Saturday afternoon as part of the ChampYinz Invitational at Fitzgerald Field House.
The five sweeps match the Panthers' start to the 2014 season, which was head coach Dan Fisher's second year at the helm. Prior to 2014, Pitt earned eight sweeps to open the 1978 campaign, and five to kick off the 1977 season. Ten of the 13 matches between 1977-78 were two-set sweeps, with the others being three-set sweeps.
Junior outside hitter Kayla Lund recorded a blistering career-high hitting percentage of .818, as nine of her 11 attempts went down for a kill with zero errors. She paced the Panthers in the kill column, followed by seven apiece from senior middle Layne Van Buskirk and senior right side Nika Markovic. In total, nine different Pitt student-athletes recorded a kill in the three-set contest.
Lund was one kill and one dig off a double-double, posting nine in each statistic.
Freshman setter Lexis Akeo led the match with 27 assists, with redshirt freshman setter Maddie Soboleski contributing 10. Redshirt senior libero Hali Hillegas anchored the back row for the third consecutive match with 18 digs.
Pitt led wire-to-wire for the entire match with zero ties. As a team, Pitt led Green Bay in every statistic, including hitting percentage (.278-.106), kills (45-31), assists (40-30), service aces (4-1), digs (54-43), and blocks (7.5-7.0).
Set One: No. 10 Pitt 25, Green Bay 17
The Panthers jumped out to a 4-0 lead on a run capped by a Chinaza Ndee kill. Later on, a 6-0 scoring run gave Pitt a double-figure lead of 16-6. The Panthers closed out the first frame with a 25-17 win. Pitt hit .333 in the first set, with by four kills apiece from Williams and Markovic.
Set Two: No. 10 Pitt 25, Green Bay 15
A quick 5-1 run gave the Panthers a 12-6 margin, and led by as many as eight (20-12) after a 4-0 run. Markovic and Lund posted three kills apiece during the set, each recording zero errors. The Panthers hit .289 while limiting Green Bay to .054 success on the attack.
Set Three: No. 10 Pitt 25, Green Bay 18
Pitt did not let up on the gas in the third frame, using a 4-0 run to stay ahead, 9-3. A 3-0 stretch gave the Panthers a 13-8 advantage, and nearly earned a double-figure margin with a 19-10 lead. Zoi Faki, Sabrina Starks, Natalie Steibel and Chiamaka Nwokolo each found the kill column in the frame as Pitt closed the match with a sweep.
UP NEXT
No. 10 Pitt will close out the ChampYinz Invitational against crosstown rival Duquesne at 8 p.m. 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
The five sweeps match the Panthers' start to the 2014 season, which was head coach Dan Fisher's second year at the helm. Prior to 2014, Pitt earned eight sweeps to open the 1978 campaign, and five to kick off the 1977 season. Ten of the 13 matches between 1977-78 were two-set sweeps, with the others being three-set sweeps.
Junior outside hitter Kayla Lund recorded a blistering career-high hitting percentage of .818, as nine of her 11 attempts went down for a kill with zero errors. She paced the Panthers in the kill column, followed by seven apiece from senior middle Layne Van Buskirk and senior right side Nika Markovic. In total, nine different Pitt student-athletes recorded a kill in the three-set contest.
Lund was one kill and one dig off a double-double, posting nine in each statistic.
Freshman setter Lexis Akeo led the match with 27 assists, with redshirt freshman setter Maddie Soboleski contributing 10. Redshirt senior libero Hali Hillegas anchored the back row for the third consecutive match with 18 digs.
Pitt led wire-to-wire for the entire match with zero ties. As a team, Pitt led Green Bay in every statistic, including hitting percentage (.278-.106), kills (45-31), assists (40-30), service aces (4-1), digs (54-43), and blocks (7.5-7.0).
Set One: No. 10 Pitt 25, Green Bay 17
The Panthers jumped out to a 4-0 lead on a run capped by a Chinaza Ndee kill. Later on, a 6-0 scoring run gave Pitt a double-figure lead of 16-6. The Panthers closed out the first frame with a 25-17 win. Pitt hit .333 in the first set, with by four kills apiece from Williams and Markovic.
Set Two: No. 10 Pitt 25, Green Bay 15
A quick 5-1 run gave the Panthers a 12-6 margin, and led by as many as eight (20-12) after a 4-0 run. Markovic and Lund posted three kills apiece during the set, each recording zero errors. The Panthers hit .289 while limiting Green Bay to .054 success on the attack.
Set Three: No. 10 Pitt 25, Green Bay 18
Pitt did not let up on the gas in the third frame, using a 4-0 run to stay ahead, 9-3. A 3-0 stretch gave the Panthers a 13-8 advantage, and nearly earned a double-figure margin with a 19-10 lead. Zoi Faki, Sabrina Starks, Natalie Steibel and Chiamaka Nwokolo each found the kill column in the frame as Pitt closed the match with a sweep.
UP NEXT
No. 10 Pitt will close out the ChampYinz Invitational against crosstown rival Duquesne at 8 p.m. 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
Team Stats
GB
UP
Kills
31
45
Errors
19
15
Attempts
113
108
Hitting %
.106
.278
Points
39.0
56.5
Assists
30
40
Aces
1
4
Blocks
7.0
7.5
Game Leaders
Kills
9
Aces
1
Blocks
1
Kills
7
Aces
0
Blocks
4
Kills
7
Aces
0
Blocks
1
Kills
6
Aces
2
Blocks
3
Players Mentioned
S
/ Volleyball
L/DS
/ VolleyballOH
/ VolleyballRS
/ Volleyball
MB/RS
/ Volleyball
MB/RS
/ Volleyball
S/RS
/ Volleyball
MB
/ Volleyball
OH
/ VolleyballMB
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