Panthers Garner AVCA All-Region Honors
12/6/2022 11:06:00 AM | Volleyball
For the first time in program history, Pitt Awarded both Regional Coach and Player of the Year
PITTSBURGH – For the first time in program history, the University of Pittsburgh Volleyball program has been awarded both the American Volleyball Coaches Association (AVCA) Regional Coach of the Year and Player of the Year awards as Dan Fisher and Courtney Buzzerio have been recognized as the best in the East Coast Region for the 2022 season.
In total, five Panthers were named AVCA All-East Coast Region: Courtney Buzzerio, Rachel Fairbanks, Serena Gray, Chiamaka Nwokolo and Valeria Vazquez Gomez. Buzzerio was named AVCA East Coast Region Player of the Year and Coach Fisher was named AVCA East Coast Region Coach of the Year. It is tied with the 2019 season for the most All-Region award winners in program history.
Buzzerio becomes just the second Panther to ever earn the award, joining Kayla Lund, AVCA East Coast Region Player of the Year in 2019 and 2020. Pitt has now won Regional Player of the Year in three of the last four seasons.
Coach Fisher has earned his third career AVCA Regional Coach of the Year honor after also doing so in 2017 and 2018.
Pitt has had at least three representatives on the AVCA All-Region list for each of the last seven seasons (since 2016).
Buzzerio 2022 Highlights
Buzzerio leads Division I in hitting percentage by anyone with more than 880 attempts. Nobody in the country is as efficient as Buzzerio with as larger workload in the offense as she holds a .338 hitting percentage, making 411 kills on 897 attempts with just 108 errors. Her 411 kills currently stands as the eighth most by a Panther in the modern scoring era (since 2008). After making 436 kills at Iowa last year, Buzzerio is the first Panther to post back-to-back 400 kill seasons since Kadi Kullerkann did so in 2014 and 2015. (2014 while at Houston).
She was a three-time winner of ACC Player of the Week and was named to the All-Tournament Team at the Texas A&M invitational and Tournament MVP at the BYU Nike Invitational, making 35 kills on .379 hitting in that weekend. She made 10+ kills while hitting at least .300 in nine straight matches - the longest streak in Division I so far this season. She has the fewest errors (108) of any Power 5 pin hitter with over 400 kills. Buzzerio also set a new program record for the most kills in an NCAA Tournament match in the modern scoring era, making 23 kills in Pitt's 3-0 sweep of BYU in the NCAA 2nd Round, including 11 kills on .733 hitting in the third (11-0-15).
Fairbanks 2022 Highlights
Fairbanks has been one of the most exciting all-around athletes in the sport this season. She became the first Pitt player in the modern scoring era to record over 100 kills, 750 assists, 250 digs and 30 aces in a single season. She recorded the first triple-double by a Pitt Panther in the modern scoring era, making 13 kills,15 assists and 12 digs at Texas A&M and followed that by becoming the first Panther in program history to achieve a triple-double in an NCAA Tournament match in program history, 10 kills, 28 assists and 13 digs vs. BYU. She is the only player in Division I this season to have achieved multiple triple-doubles in three set matches and is the only Panther in the modern scoring era to record multiple triple-doubles of any kind in the same season.
Gray 2022 Highlights
One of two players in the Power 5 to have hit over .400 in each of the last two seasons - hitting .408 this year, the 12th best in the nation. Her 53 hitting errors are the 10th fewest in the nation by a hitter with over .400 hitting. Named ACC Player of the Week after making 24 kills on .600 hitting while also averaging 1.00 block/set in a dominant display to begin the conference season against North Carolina and NC State. The only player in the ACC to achieve a hitting percentage over .400 in conference play while also making over 200 kills.
Vazquez Gomez 2022 Highlights
One of the most impactful six rotation players in the country, Vazquez Gomez stepped into the starting lineup for Pitt this season, finishing with the second most kills, the second highest hitting percentage by a pin and the third most aces and digs. Averaged just under 3 kills/set on .311 hitting in her final 10 matches of the regular season, making 1.91 digs/set and .34 aces/set in that span. Made a career-high 24 digs in Pitt's 4 set win over NC State. It was the most by a Pitt non-defensive specialist since 2017. Named to the All-Tournament Team at the BYU Nike Invitational and won ACC Player of the week after posting 3.14 kills/set on a remarkable .462 hitting while also making 3.29 digs/set as a 6-rotation asset in wins at Clemson and No. 10 Georgia Tech. Ended the season by winning ACC Player of the week again after dominating both No. 13 Georgia Tech and Boston College. So far in the NCAA Tournament, she is the only player in the field to be averaging over 3.00 kills/set and 3.00 digs/set in tournament play.
Nwokolo 2022 Highlights
Led the team with 1.13 blocks/set in the regular season, while also hitting .336, marking her first-career 100 kill and 100 block season. Has gone 18-straight matches with two or fewer attacking errors, the longest such streak of her career. Made a season-best eight blocks in Pitt's five-set victory over Louisville, while setting a season-high in kills against NC State, making 14 on .522 hitting. Hit over .300 in 19 of 31 matches played this year, making at least 1 block/set in 20 of 31 appearances.
Fisher 2022 Highlights
After losing three All-Americans from the 2021 Final Four team: Kayla Lund, Leketor Member-Meneh and Chinaza Ndee, Coach Fisher retooled his roster and his offensive system for the 2022 season with great success. Fisher and his coaching staff added a unique feature to this year's roster, height. Three of the five newcomers onto the roster stand at least 6-foot-4 with Rachel Jepsen (6'4), Julianna Dalton (6'5) and Buzzerio (6'5). With Dalton and Buzzerio stepping into prominent roles on the offense, Fisher was forced to adjust his offense, built on blistering speed in year's past, to a slightly slower but more physical approach.
Despite the adjustments to both system and roster, the Panthers have stayed atop the national volleyball landscape, claiming their fourth ACC Championship in the past six seasons, earning the highest ranked win in program history, over No. 2 Louisville at home (10/23) and taking down a program record six opponents ranked in the Top 20 over the course of the year. He has led Pitt to its third consecutive Sweet 16 appearance and is one win away from recording a fourth straight 30-win season (excluding the 24-match COVID year of 2020/21).
UP NEXT
The Panthers continue their NCAA Tournament run this Thursday at 3:30 ET against Florida. The match will be held at the UW Field House in Madison, Wisconsin as the first of two Regional Semifinals. The winner of the Pitt vs. Florida match will play the winner of Wisconsin vs. Penn State on Saturday at 8 p.m. ET in the Elite 8. All matches will be broadcast on ESPNU.
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In total, five Panthers were named AVCA All-East Coast Region: Courtney Buzzerio, Rachel Fairbanks, Serena Gray, Chiamaka Nwokolo and Valeria Vazquez Gomez. Buzzerio was named AVCA East Coast Region Player of the Year and Coach Fisher was named AVCA East Coast Region Coach of the Year. It is tied with the 2019 season for the most All-Region award winners in program history.
Buzzerio becomes just the second Panther to ever earn the award, joining Kayla Lund, AVCA East Coast Region Player of the Year in 2019 and 2020. Pitt has now won Regional Player of the Year in three of the last four seasons.
Coach Fisher has earned his third career AVCA Regional Coach of the Year honor after also doing so in 2017 and 2018.
Pitt has had at least three representatives on the AVCA All-Region list for each of the last seven seasons (since 2016).
Buzzerio 2022 Highlights
Buzzerio leads Division I in hitting percentage by anyone with more than 880 attempts. Nobody in the country is as efficient as Buzzerio with as larger workload in the offense as she holds a .338 hitting percentage, making 411 kills on 897 attempts with just 108 errors. Her 411 kills currently stands as the eighth most by a Panther in the modern scoring era (since 2008). After making 436 kills at Iowa last year, Buzzerio is the first Panther to post back-to-back 400 kill seasons since Kadi Kullerkann did so in 2014 and 2015. (2014 while at Houston).
She was a three-time winner of ACC Player of the Week and was named to the All-Tournament Team at the Texas A&M invitational and Tournament MVP at the BYU Nike Invitational, making 35 kills on .379 hitting in that weekend. She made 10+ kills while hitting at least .300 in nine straight matches - the longest streak in Division I so far this season. She has the fewest errors (108) of any Power 5 pin hitter with over 400 kills. Buzzerio also set a new program record for the most kills in an NCAA Tournament match in the modern scoring era, making 23 kills in Pitt's 3-0 sweep of BYU in the NCAA 2nd Round, including 11 kills on .733 hitting in the third (11-0-15).
Fairbanks 2022 Highlights
Fairbanks has been one of the most exciting all-around athletes in the sport this season. She became the first Pitt player in the modern scoring era to record over 100 kills, 750 assists, 250 digs and 30 aces in a single season. She recorded the first triple-double by a Pitt Panther in the modern scoring era, making 13 kills,15 assists and 12 digs at Texas A&M and followed that by becoming the first Panther in program history to achieve a triple-double in an NCAA Tournament match in program history, 10 kills, 28 assists and 13 digs vs. BYU. She is the only player in Division I this season to have achieved multiple triple-doubles in three set matches and is the only Panther in the modern scoring era to record multiple triple-doubles of any kind in the same season.
Gray 2022 Highlights
One of two players in the Power 5 to have hit over .400 in each of the last two seasons - hitting .408 this year, the 12th best in the nation. Her 53 hitting errors are the 10th fewest in the nation by a hitter with over .400 hitting. Named ACC Player of the Week after making 24 kills on .600 hitting while also averaging 1.00 block/set in a dominant display to begin the conference season against North Carolina and NC State. The only player in the ACC to achieve a hitting percentage over .400 in conference play while also making over 200 kills.
Vazquez Gomez 2022 Highlights
One of the most impactful six rotation players in the country, Vazquez Gomez stepped into the starting lineup for Pitt this season, finishing with the second most kills, the second highest hitting percentage by a pin and the third most aces and digs. Averaged just under 3 kills/set on .311 hitting in her final 10 matches of the regular season, making 1.91 digs/set and .34 aces/set in that span. Made a career-high 24 digs in Pitt's 4 set win over NC State. It was the most by a Pitt non-defensive specialist since 2017. Named to the All-Tournament Team at the BYU Nike Invitational and won ACC Player of the week after posting 3.14 kills/set on a remarkable .462 hitting while also making 3.29 digs/set as a 6-rotation asset in wins at Clemson and No. 10 Georgia Tech. Ended the season by winning ACC Player of the week again after dominating both No. 13 Georgia Tech and Boston College. So far in the NCAA Tournament, she is the only player in the field to be averaging over 3.00 kills/set and 3.00 digs/set in tournament play.
Nwokolo 2022 Highlights
Led the team with 1.13 blocks/set in the regular season, while also hitting .336, marking her first-career 100 kill and 100 block season. Has gone 18-straight matches with two or fewer attacking errors, the longest such streak of her career. Made a season-best eight blocks in Pitt's five-set victory over Louisville, while setting a season-high in kills against NC State, making 14 on .522 hitting. Hit over .300 in 19 of 31 matches played this year, making at least 1 block/set in 20 of 31 appearances.
Fisher 2022 Highlights
After losing three All-Americans from the 2021 Final Four team: Kayla Lund, Leketor Member-Meneh and Chinaza Ndee, Coach Fisher retooled his roster and his offensive system for the 2022 season with great success. Fisher and his coaching staff added a unique feature to this year's roster, height. Three of the five newcomers onto the roster stand at least 6-foot-4 with Rachel Jepsen (6'4), Julianna Dalton (6'5) and Buzzerio (6'5). With Dalton and Buzzerio stepping into prominent roles on the offense, Fisher was forced to adjust his offense, built on blistering speed in year's past, to a slightly slower but more physical approach.
Despite the adjustments to both system and roster, the Panthers have stayed atop the national volleyball landscape, claiming their fourth ACC Championship in the past six seasons, earning the highest ranked win in program history, over No. 2 Louisville at home (10/23) and taking down a program record six opponents ranked in the Top 20 over the course of the year. He has led Pitt to its third consecutive Sweet 16 appearance and is one win away from recording a fourth straight 30-win season (excluding the 24-match COVID year of 2020/21).
UP NEXT
The Panthers continue their NCAA Tournament run this Thursday at 3:30 ET against Florida. The match will be held at the UW Field House in Madison, Wisconsin as the first of two Regional Semifinals. The winner of the Pitt vs. Florida match will play the winner of Wisconsin vs. Penn State on Saturday at 8 p.m. ET in the Elite 8. All matches will be broadcast on ESPNU.
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