No. 4 Panthers Head South to Begin Four-Match Road Trip

PITTSBURGH – Looking to rebound after its first loss of the season, the No. 4 Pitt volleyball team (15-1, 5-1 ACC) will head south this weekend for its first two of four consecutive road matches.

Pitt will first face Miami (14-2, 5-1 ACC) Friday at 7 p.m. ET at the Knight Sports Complex in Coral Gables, Fla., before heading north to Tallahassee to take on Florida State (11-4, 4-2 ACC) Sunday at 1 p.m. ET at Tully Gymnasium. The match against the Seminoles will be broadcast nationally by ACC Network.

WEEKEND SCHEDULE

Match 17 – No. 4 Pitt at Miami (Friday, 7 p.m. ET): Live Stats | Watch (ACCNX)
Match 18 – No. 4 Pitt at Florida State (Sunday, 1 p.m. ET): Live Stats | ACC Network
Fans can follow @Pitt_VB on Twitter and Instagram for live updates during all matches.

TWO TOP-FIVE RANKINGS FOR THE PANTHERS

Following their first loss of the season, the Panthers dropped one spot to No. 2 in the latest NCAA Volleyball rating percentage index (RPI), as announced Monday. The rating percentage index, commonly known as the RPI, is a quantity used to rank sports teams based upon a team's wins and losses and its strength of schedule.
Pitt dropped two spots to No. 4 in the latest American Volleyball Coaches Association (AVCA) Top 25 Poll, announced Monday. This week marks Pitt's 17th appearance (sixth consecutive) all-time in the Top 5 in program history. The Panthers have appeared in 62 consecutive AVCA Top 25 polls, dating back to the 2018 Preseason Poll.

LAST TIME OUT

The Panthers split a pair of home matches, sweeping Clemson (Oct. 8) and falling in a five-set clash with No. 18 Georgia Tech (Oct. 10) at Fitzgerald Field House. Pitt's loss to the Yellow Jackets was its first of the season, snapping a perfect 15-0 start to the year.
Against the Tigers, Pitt picked up its fourth consecutive sweep, downing Clemson in straight sets. The Panthers earned the win by scores of 25-21, 25-18, 25-17. With the win, Pitt had claimed 30 of its previous 32 sets. With the victory, at 15-0, the Panthers extended their best start to a season since 2018, when they earned their best start ever at 23-0. Pitt had the advantage across the board, in hitting percentage (.351-.189), kills (44-37), assists (43-32), service aces (6-1), digs (34-31) and blocks (5.0-3.0).
The Yellow Jackets earned the win against Pitt by scores of 21-25, 25-23, 25-23, 18-25, 15-9. The Panthers' loss halted a streak of four consecutive sweeps and 15 consecutive match wins to start the season. Georgia Tech had the advantage in kills (69-61), assists (65-60) and hitting percentage (.286-.271). Pitt had more service aces (8-6) and digs (52-51). Each team posted 10.5 blocks. Julia Bergmann led the Yellow Jackets with 24 kills. Right side hitter Chinaza Ndee tied a season-best total with 17 kills for Pitt on .406 hitting. Co-captain Kayla Lund had 16 kills on .333 hitting in addition to a match-best three service aces.

RECORD WATCH

A quartet of Panthers are rising in the Pitt volleyball career record rankings, following Pitt's most recent match against No. 18 Georgia Tech (Oct. 10).
Two-time ACC Volleyball Player of the Year Kayla Lund has moved into the program's Top 5 for career kills. Following Sunday's match against No. 18 Georgia Tech, she has 1,522 and ranks fourth all-time. Lund also ranks in the program's Top 10 for service aces (fifth, 140), attacks (seventh, 3,625) and digs (ninth, 1,160).
All-American right side Chinaza Ndee ranks second in program history with 417 block assists. She needs 93 more to take sole possession of first place in the record book. Ndee ranks sixth all-time with 435 total blocks for her career.
Senior middle blocker Sabrina Starks is seventh all-time for Pitt with 300 career block assists and 10th all-time with 338 total blocks.
Junior setter Lexis Akeo has broken into the program's all-time top 10 with 1,972 career assists.

A LOOK AROUND THE ACC

The ACC has three teams in the latest AVCA Top 25 poll, including No. 2 Louisville, No. 3 Pitt and No. 16 Georgia Tech.
Pitt holds a 220-89 (.712) record against the current ACC membership. The Panthers' loss to Georgia Tech Sunday snapped a 15-match win streak against ACC opponents for Pitt.

SCOUTING MIAMI

The Hurricanes (14-2, 5-1 ACC) received 20 votes in the latest AVCA Poll and are riding a five-match win streak headed into Friday's match against No. 4 Pitt. After dropping their ACC opener to Louisville (Sept. 24), Miami has defeated five conference opponents in a row, most recently topping Florida State (Oct. 6) at home and Duke (Oct. 8) on the road. The Hurricanes' only other loss on the season came in a five-setter against UCF (Sept. 16).
Miami ranks second in the ACC with 16.04 digs per set and an opponent hitting percentage of .160.
The Hurricanes are third in the league with 2.81 blocks per frame. Janice Leao is second in the ACC with 1.63 blocks per set, ranking fourth in the NCAA.
Pitt has won the last eight meetings with Miami and holds an 11-4 all-time record against the Hurricanes. The Panthers' last loss to Miami was Nov. 14, 2014 – a sweep in Pittsburgh. Pitt's last loss when playing in Miami was a sweep on Oct. 11, 2013.

SCOUTING FLORIDA STATE

Florida State (11-4, 4-2 ACC) picked up a 3-1 win at Duke in its most recent outing. The Seminoles earned a signature win earlier in the season when they defeated rival No. 14 Florida in Tallahassee, 3-1 (Sept. 15).
The Seminoles lead the ACC with 16.69 digs per set.
Junior middle blocker Emma Clothier ranks fourth in the league with 0.43 service aces per frame.
The Panthers have won seven in a row in the all-time series with the Seminoles and own an 11-5 advantage in the series. Pitt's last loss against FSU came Oct. 16, 2016, in Tallahassee (3-1). Pitt is 5-2 all-time when playing on the road against the Seminoles.

UP NEXT

A hotly anticipated weekend follows for No. 4 Pitt, as they travel to face Notre Dame (Oct. 22) and No. 2 Louisville (Oct. 24) to complete their four-match road trip.

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