No. 8 Pitt Takes Down No. 2 Louisville in 5 Sets

Sunday, October 23

Pittsburgh, PA

1 PM

Pitt

20-2,10-0ACC

Louisville

18-2,9-1ACC

Louisville

Pittsburgh

No. 8 Pitt Takes Down No. 2 Louisville in 5 Sets

10/23/2022 6:37:00 PM | Volleyball

Box Score

PITTSBURGH – No. 8 Pitt (20-2, 10-0) secured its highest ranked win in program history on Sunday afternoon, taking down No. 2 Louisville (18-2, 9-1) in five sets (25-15, 25-13, 25-27, 20-25, 15-12) inside Fitzgerald Field House. It is the Panthers' program-record-breaking fourth consecutive Top 10 win as they become just the second Pitt program to deliver four Top 10 victories in a single season (1989 Men's Basketball).

"I thought it was a wonderful volleyball atmosphere today," head coach Dan Fisher said. "Our crowds keep getting better and better and they certainly helped today. It was a tale of two matches, with us winning rather easily in the first two sets and then being the second-best team on the court for three and four. We found a way to re-focus in the fifth and bring out our best. It was a full team effort for us, we played a lot of players and got some great effort off the bench. Of course, I'm proud of Courtney [Buzzerio] for carrying a big load on the fifth set. We're on the road again next week, excited to get back in the practice gym and earn some more wins."

QUICK HITS

Pitt has now won four straight matches over Top 10 teams for the first time in program history.
The Panthers have also won consecutive matches over Top 5 opponents (also vs. No. 5 Ohio State) for the first time ever.
Pitt now holds six victories over Top 5-ranked teams, with five of those wins coming in the last four seasons.
Buzzerio led the Panthers in kills for the 14^th match in a row, finishing with a season-best 22 on .302 hitting.
She has now made at least 3.25 kills/set in 14 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 eight matches, also a career best.
Serena Gray was dominant down the middle, making a season high 15 kills on .480 hitting with five blocks
She has posted five-straight matches with at least 5 kills, .300 hitting and five blocks.
Rachel Fairbanks delivered her 10^th double-double of the season, finishing with 37 assists and 10 digs. She nearly had her second triple-double, finishing with eight kills.
Chiamaka Nwokolo tied her career-best with eight blocks today, doing so for the third time in her career.
Julianna Dalton delivered 12 digs, giving her back-to-back double-digit dig performances for the first time in her career. She is averaging 2.56 digs/set over her last five matches.
Ashley Browske led the team in digs with 13. She has made 10+ digs in seven of her last eight outings.
This is the 13^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 10-0 for the third time in the last five years and first since the undefeated 2019 season.
Pitt snapped Louisville's road winning streak, giving Pitt the longest active road winning streak in the nation – 11.

SET 1: PITT 25 – LOUISVILLE 15
The Panthers came out of the gates swinging, winning seven of the first nine points to take a 7-2 lead. The Cardinals tried to counter but Pitt's serving put them out of system time after time, leading to an inefficient offense from UL and allowing Pitt to execute at a high level. Pitt's blocking set the tone as Buzzerio, Nwokolo, Gray and Vazquez Gomez combined for six blocks throughout the set. The Panthers led by 10 points as early as 16-6, and would hold that lead until the end, out-hitting UL .286 to .028. Buzzerio was on her game from the jump, finishing with five kills on .333 hitting in the opening frame. Vazquez Gomez led the charge on defense, making two blocks and four digs along with her two kills.

SET 2: PITT 25 – LOUISVILLE 13
If the first set was impressive, the second set was downright dominant. Pitt's serving remained on point, forcing Louisville into uncomfortable situations and leading to plenty of attack errors. While the Cardinals were struggling for answers, Buzzerio was notching kill after kill. Pitt ended the set on an 11-3 scoring run to take the set by 12 points. Buzzerio finished with six kills, the same amount as the entire Louisville team. Gray came alive offensively, making four kills on five swings, doing a lot of damage on the over-passes UL was making off the intense Pitt serves.

SET 3: PITT 25 – LOUISVILLE 27
The Panthers led by as many as five points, 16-11, but UL came storming back, tying the score at 20 and taking their first lead at 22-23. Pitt fought off two set points but the Cardinals secured their first set of the day at 27-25. Nwokolo and Gray were the most efficient on offense, making six kills on a combined .454 hitting.

SET 4: PITT 20 – LOUISVILLE 25
Attack errors came back to haunt the Panthers in the fourth as the Cardinals delivered five blocks, keeping Pitt uncomfortable. Louisville claimed the set with an 8-0 run, erasing a 16-14 Panther lead and going in front, 16-22, holding off the Panthers until the match was tied. Gray managed a team-best five kills as Buzzerio paced the back row with four digs.

SET 5: PITT 15 – LOUISVILLE 12
The Panthers were the first to strike in the fifth set, winning seven of the first 10 points thanks to some great play from Emmy Klika and an ace from Dillyn Griffin. UL came back to go on a 7-2 run, taking the lead, 9-10. When the Panthers needed a kill, they turned to Buzzerio, the fifth-year grad transfer tied the score, 10-10, and secured the final three kills of the match to vault Pitt over the Cardinals, snapping UL's 38-match ACC win streak.

UP NEXT
The Panthers will go on the road to close out October, taking on Wake Forest (Oct. 28) and Virginia Tech (Oct. 30). Both matches will be streamed on ACCNX.

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