No. 8 Pitt Extends Win Streak to 12 Matches with Dominant Win

Friday, October 21

Pittsburgh, PA

7 PM

Pitt

19-2,9-0ACC

Notre Dame

9-10,4-5ACC

Notre Dame

Pittsburgh

No. 8 Pitt Extends Win Streak to 12 Matches with Dominant Win

10/21/2022 10:20:00 PM | Volleyball

Box Score Box Score.PDF

PITTSBURGH – No. 8 Pitt (19-2, 9-0) defeated Notre Dame (9-10, 4-5) 3-0 on Friday evening inside Fitzgerald Field House. The Panthers, led by double-doubles from Julianna Dalton and Rachel Fairbanks, have now won 12 straight matches this season and extend their home winning streak against unranked ACC opponents to 40.

"This was one of our best efforts of the year from start to finish," head coach Dan Fisher said. "I loved out defensive effort and our consistency on offense. One of the things we preach as a staff is to not skip a beat on offense regardless of who is on the court for us, and we did that tonight, maintaining a good level while playing with some different personnel. The energy of the crowd tonight was great. We're looking forward to that atmosphere again on Sunday."

Pittsburgh's pin hitters, Dalton, Courtney Buzzerio and Valeria Vazquez Gomez, combined for 32 kills on .338 hitting tonight as all three delivered at least 10 kills while hitting over .300. As a team, the Panthers dominated play from start to finish, never allowing Notre Dame a lead greater than 1-0 throughout the entire match, out-hitting the Irish .327 to .044 and out-digging them 61-42.

QUICK HITS

Pitt's 61 team digs are the most in a three-set match since 2015, when the Panthers made 65, also against Notre Dame.
Dalton earned her first-career double-double, making 11 kills and 11 digs.
Rachel Fairbanks joined her, earning her team-leading ninth double-double of the season with 23 assists and 12 digs.
Ashley Browske made her 800^th career dig tonight in the first set. She finished the match with 12 digs, bringing her career total to 806.
Buzzerio tied Dalton for the team lead in kills for the 13^th match in a row, finishing with 11 on .318 hitting.
She has now made at least 3.25 kills/set in 13 straight matches – the longest streak of her five-year collegiate career.
She's made 10+ kills while hitting at least .300 in each of her last seven matches, also a career best.
Dalton joined Buzzerio with 11 kills, doing so on .400 hitting.
This was her second .400+ hitting performance as a Panther after making 11 kills on .417 hitting in Pitt's sweep over Hawai'i in the first weekend of the season.
Serena Gray delivered another strong performance in the middle, making five kills on .571 hitting with five blocks.
She has posted four-straight matches with at least 5 kills, .300 hitting and five blocks.
Freshman Rachel Jepsen played a major role in the win, making three kills and five blocks with a .429 hitting percentage.
Valeria Vazquez Gomez finished with 10 kills on .304 hitting, as well as eight digs.
This is the 12^th win in a row for Pitt, the longest winning streak of the season. The Panthers have had at least one 10+ match win streak in each of the last six seasons.
Pitt has started ACC play 9-0 for the fourth time in the last six years and first since the undefeated 2019 season.
The Panthers have now won 40 straight home matches against unranked ACC opponents.

SET 1: PITT 25 – NOTRE DAME 10
Pitt established themselves as the dominant force in the match from the very beginning, going on an 8-1 scoring run to take a 12-5 lead with five different Panthers registering kills. Notre Dame would cut the lead to three with a run of their own, 12-9, only for Pitt to respond with a 13-1 run that ended the set in short order. The Panthers' defense was on a tear, digging 25 balls with three blocks while only allowing five Irish kills and holding them to -.024 hitting. In contrast, the offense could do no wrong, making 17 kills, distributed among five different players with Vazquez Gomez and Buzzerio leading the way at five. Dalton, Browske and Fairbanks each made six digs while Gray played a part in all three first set blocks.

SET 2: PITT 25 – NOTRE DAME 15
Yet another 8-1 scoring run from Pitt put the home team in front, 10-3. Notre dame never got closer than four points from that point on as the Panthers claimed a 2-0 set lead with relative ease. Dalton was the catalyst on offense, making five kills on six swings. Fairbanks and Akeo distributed the ball well throughout spreading the other 10 Panther kills between six other players, including one from Fairbanks. Jepsen started the set at middle blocker, making three blocks in the initial 8-1 scoring run, on her way to a team-high four blocks this set. In the back row, Fairbanks, Browske, Akeo and Dalton each finished with three digs as Pitt continued to make life difficult for the Irish.

SET 3: PITT 25 – NOTRE DAME 18
After Notre Dame won the initial point of the set, Pitt reclaimed the lead with four straight points, and never looked back, slowly pulling away more and more until they brought the match home with seven points to spare. Fairbanks was the primary weapon on offense, making four kills on nine attempts as Cam Ennis entered the match as a setter. The defense was back on its top form, making 22 digs and two blocks. 10 different Panthers contributed a dig or a block in the set, led by five digs and a block from Vazquez Gomez. Ennis was very strong in the set, contributing five assists and three digs. Emmy Klika was very impressive, collecting three digs in the final eight points of play to help polish off the Panther's 12^th straight win.

UP NEXT
The Panthers will play their fourth Top 10 match of the season, taking on No. 2 Louisville inside Fitzgerald Field House on Sunday afternoon at 1 p.m. It's the Roc the Royal match, fans are encouraged to wear Royal Blue. Tickets are available at pittsburghpanthers.com and the match will be televised on ESPNU.

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