Friday, October 29
Pittsburgh, Pa.
7 PM ET
Pitt
vs
Wake Forest
No. 4 Pitt Set for Home Weekend Versus Wake Forest, Virginia Tech
10/28/2021 11:11:00 AM | Volleyball
Panthers Return to Fitzgerald Field House for First Time Since Oct. 10
PITTSBURGH – The No. 4 Pitt volleyball team (18-2, 8-2 ACC) will close out the month of October with a pair of home matches at Fitzgerald Field House against Wake Forest (11-10, 2-8 ACC) and Virginia Tech (9-13, 0-10 ACC) Friday and Sunday, respectively.
The Panthers will host the Demon Deacons at 7 p.m. ET Friday before the Hokies come to town Sunday at 1 p.m. ET. Both matches will be streamed on ACC Network Extra.
WEEKEND SCHEDULE
PROMOTIONS
PANTHERS STILL ATOP NCAA VOLLEYBALL RATING PERCENTAGE INDEX (RPI)
ANOTHER TOP-FIVE RANKING FOR PITT
LAST TIME OUT
RECORD WATCH
A LOOK AROUND THE ACC
SCOUTING WAKE FOREST
SCOUTING VIRGINIA TECH
UP NEXT
#H2P | Twitter | Instagram | Facebook
The Panthers will host the Demon Deacons at 7 p.m. ET Friday before the Hokies come to town Sunday at 1 p.m. ET. Both matches will be streamed on ACC Network Extra.
WEEKEND SCHEDULE
- Match 21 – Wake Forest at No. 4 Pitt (Friday, 7 p.m. ET): Live Stats | Watch (ACCNX)
- Match 22 – Virginia Tech at No. 4 Pitt (Sunday, Noon ET): Live Stats | Watch (ACCNX)
- Fans can follow @Pitt_VB on Twitter and Instagram for live updates during all matches.
PROMOTIONS
- Friday vs. Wake Forest: Freeze Pop Friday (Cool off with a free post-match Freeze Pop treat following Friday matches)
- Sunday vs. Virginia Tech: Volley-ween (Wear a costume, get a $1 ticket at the door), Show your Pitt vs. Miami Football Ticket at the door for a $1 ticket)
- Weekend Ticket Package: Buy tickets to Friday and Sunday matches in the same weekend and receive a discounted price! **Only available until 11:59pm the Thursday prior for each package.
- Family 4-Pack: Sunday afternoon matches – get four tickets for $12 (up to $20 in savings) **Only available until 11:59 PM the night prior to the match.
PANTHERS STILL ATOP NCAA VOLLEYBALL RATING PERCENTAGE INDEX (RPI)
- Despite a road loss at No. 2 Louisville Sunday, the Panthers remained at No. 1 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.
ANOTHER TOP-FIVE RANKING FOR PITT
- Pitt remained at No. 4 in the latest American Volleyball Coaches Association (AVCA) Top 25 Poll, announced Monday. This week marks Pitt's 19th appearance (eighth consecutive) all-time in the Top 5 in program history. The Panthers have appeared in 64 consecutive AVCA Top 25 polls, dating back to the 2018 Preseason Poll.
LAST TIME OUT
- The Panthers split a pair of tough road matches that each went the distance.
- First, Pitt survived a battle at Notre Dame, winning by scores of 25-18, 20-25, 25-21, 19-25, 15-10. Pitt had the advantage in kills (64-52), assists (61-49), digs (76-64) and hitting percentage (.193-.174). Notre Dame handily out-blocked the Panthers (21.0-14.0). Each team had four service aces. Senior middle blocker Serena Gray had a career performance with 19 kills. She hit a blistering .607 with just two errors on 28 swings and added five blocks.
- Next, Pitt fell just short on the road at No. 2 Louisville (20-0, 10-0 ACC) Sunday afternoon at L&N Federal Credit Union Arena. Sunday's match was the first between two Top 5 teams in Pitt volleyball program history. It was the Panthers' first loss when playing away from Pittsburgh, dropping to 12-1 overall and 8-1 in true road matchups. The Cardinals earned the win by scores of 25-19, 20-25, 25-27, 25-22, 13-15. Despite the loss, Pitt out-hit Louisville (.338-.258) and had more digs (48-41) and blocks (14.0-13.0). The Cards had the advantage in kills (70-65), assists (64-59) and service aces (5-2). The teams were plagued by a combined 25 service errors. Senior outside hitter Leketor Member-Meneh recorded a double-double with a match-high 18 kills on .389 hitting to go along with 12 digs. She added four blocks – two solo – and the team's only two service aces of the day.
RECORD WATCH
- A quartet of Panthers are rising in the Pitt volleyball career record rankings, following Pitt's most recent match at No. 2 Louisville (Oct. 24)
- Two-time ACC Volleyball Player of the Year Kayla Lund has moved into the program's Top 5 for career kills. She currently has 1,581 and ranks fourth all-time. Lund also ranks in the program's Top 10 for service aces (fifth, 145), attacks (fifth, 3,778) and digs (ninth, 1,206).
- All-American right side Chinaza Ndee ranks second in program history with 432 block assists. She needs 78 more to take sole possession of first place in the record book. Ndee ranks sixth all-time with 451 total blocks for her career.
- Senior middle blocker Sabrina Starks is seventh all-time for Pitt with 320 career block assists and eighth all-time with 359 total blocks.
- Junior setter Lexis Akeo has broken into the program's all-time top 10 with 2,060 career assists. She notched the 2,000th assist of her career during the Panther's win at Florida State (Oct. 17).
A LOOK AROUND THE ACC
- The ACC has three teams in the latest AVCA Top 25 poll, including No. 2 Louisville, No. 4 Pitt and No. 14 Georgia Tech.
- Miami and Florida State are just outside the Top 25, both receiving votes in the poll.
- Pitt holds a 225-93 (.708) record against the current ACC membership.
SCOUTING WAKE FOREST
- The Demon Deacons (11-20, 2-8 ACC) are looking to snap a three-match slump when they visit Pitt Friday night. Wake Forest's last win was a sweep of Notre Dame Oct. 15 in Winston-Salem, N.C.
- Freshman defensive specialist Kalani Whillock ranks second in the ACC with 4.16 digs per set. Redshirt senior setter Andrea Fuentes is fourth in the league with 10.05 assists per set.
- Pitt is 9-1 all-time when facing Wake Forest and has won the last five meetings. The Panthers are unbeaten (4-0) when hosting the Demon Deacons in Pittsburgh. Pitt has not dropped a set to the Deacs since a 3-1 loss for Pitt on Oct. 9, 2016, in Winston-Salem.
SCOUTING VIRGINIA TECH
- The Hokies (9-13, 0-10 ACC) are still hunting for their first win in conference play and are looking to snap a streak of seven consecutive sweeps. Virginia Tech's last set win was in the third frame against Boston College (Oct. 1). Since then, the Hokies have dropped 23 consecutive sets.
- Junior libero Logan Mosley ranks second in the ACC with 321 total digs this season.
- Pitt is 12-6 all-time against Virginia Tech with a 6-2 advantage when playing in Pittsburgh. The Panthers have won the last six meetings with the Hokies, with their last loss coming Nov. 15, 2015, 3-2, in Pittsburgh.
UP NEXT
- Pitt will host another weekend of matches at Fitzgerald Field House, welcoming Syracuse (Oct. 5) and Boston College (Oct. 7) to Pittsburgh. Tickets for both matches are available at PittsburghPanthers.com.
#H2P | Twitter | Instagram | Facebook
Players Mentioned
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