Thursday, December 8
Madison, Wisc.
3:30 PM
Pitt
vs
Florida
No. 2 Pitt Heads to Madison Regional
12/7/2022 11:30:00 AM | Volleyball
The Panthers will play in their third consecutive Sweet 16
PITTSBURGH – No. 2 seeded Pitt (29-3, 17-1 ACC) continues its NCAA Tournament run this weekend at the Madison Regional in Madison, Wisc. The Panthers will take on No. 3 seed Florida (25-5, 15-3 SEC) in the regional semifinal with the hopes of advancing to the Elite 8 against the winner of No. 4 seed Penn State and the hosts, No. 1 seed Wisconsin.
NCAA TOURNAMENT HISTORY
This is Pitt's 18th NCAA Tournament Appearance. Pitt is 16-17 all-time in NCAA Tournament Matches with a 13-6 record under Dan Fisher. This is the Panthers third straight appearance in a NCAA Tournament Regional. Pitt is one of 9 teams to have not dropped a set yet this tournament and are tied with Texas for the second fewest sets lost (10) in the NCAA Tournament since 2020 one behind Nebraska & Wisconsin.
RECORD SETTING OPENING WEEKEND
Pitt set a multitude of records this past weekend in the opening rounds of the NCAA Tournament. A total of 5,481 fans were in attendance throughout the weekend, marking the highest attended NCAA Tournament weekend in program history. The 2,814 in the crowd for the win over BYU was the highest attended Volleyball NCAA Tournament match in venue history at the Petersen Events Center.
Pitt delivered its most efficient offensive display in Tournament history against Colgate, delivering 48 kills on .381 hitting. Against BYU, Fairbanks' triple-double was the first in an NCAA Tournament match in Pitt history and the only three-set triple double in the NCAA Tournament in the modern scoring era. Buzzerio's 23 kills on .475 hitting set a Pitt record for the most kills in a Tournament match and the highest hit % with 20+ kills.
That high-powered Panther offense led to 17.33 kills/set through the first two matches of the tournament – the highest of any team thus far.
AVCA AWARDS PITT WITH ALL-REGION HONORS
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).
SCOUTING FLORIDA
The Gators enter the regional as another team yet to have dropped a set this tournament, sweeping Florida A&M and Iowa State in the opening weekend. UF has been very strong in the service game, racking up 17 aces in their two sweeps, the second most in the tournament to this point. Although this is only the fourth all-time meeting between UF and Pitt, and the first since 1998, there is plenty of familiarity between the two squads as Coach Fisher won a Gold medal with Rachel Fairbanks and three Gators (Merritt Beason (RS/OH), Alexis Stucky (S) and Bre Kelley (MB)) with the U.S. U21 National Team over the summer. Pitt leads the all-time series, 2-1, despite nobody on either team being born the last time the two teams met, in September of 1998.
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MADISON REGIONAL SCHEDULE
| No. 2 Pitt vs. No. 3 Florida | Thursday, Dec. 8 | 3:30 p.m. | Live Stats | Live Stream |
| No. 1 Wisconsin vs. No. 4 Penn State | Thursday, Dec. 8 | 6 p.m. | Live Stats | Live Stream |
| Winner of Match 1 vs. Winner of Match 2 | Saturday, Dec. 10 | 7 p.m. | Live Stats | Live Stream |
Fans can follow @Pitt_VB on Twitter and Instagram for live updates during all matches.
All matches in this regional will be broadcast on ESPNU
All matches in this regional will be broadcast on ESPNU
NCAA TOURNAMENT HISTORY
This is Pitt's 18th NCAA Tournament Appearance. Pitt is 16-17 all-time in NCAA Tournament Matches with a 13-6 record under Dan Fisher. This is the Panthers third straight appearance in a NCAA Tournament Regional. Pitt is one of 9 teams to have not dropped a set yet this tournament and are tied with Texas for the second fewest sets lost (10) in the NCAA Tournament since 2020 one behind Nebraska & Wisconsin.
RECORD SETTING OPENING WEEKEND
Pitt set a multitude of records this past weekend in the opening rounds of the NCAA Tournament. A total of 5,481 fans were in attendance throughout the weekend, marking the highest attended NCAA Tournament weekend in program history. The 2,814 in the crowd for the win over BYU was the highest attended Volleyball NCAA Tournament match in venue history at the Petersen Events Center.
Pitt delivered its most efficient offensive display in Tournament history against Colgate, delivering 48 kills on .381 hitting. Against BYU, Fairbanks' triple-double was the first in an NCAA Tournament match in Pitt history and the only three-set triple double in the NCAA Tournament in the modern scoring era. Buzzerio's 23 kills on .475 hitting set a Pitt record for the most kills in a Tournament match and the highest hit % with 20+ kills.
That high-powered Panther offense led to 17.33 kills/set through the first two matches of the tournament – the highest of any team thus far.
AVCA AWARDS PITT WITH ALL-REGION HONORS
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).
SCOUTING FLORIDA
The Gators enter the regional as another team yet to have dropped a set this tournament, sweeping Florida A&M and Iowa State in the opening weekend. UF has been very strong in the service game, racking up 17 aces in their two sweeps, the second most in the tournament to this point. Although this is only the fourth all-time meeting between UF and Pitt, and the first since 1998, there is plenty of familiarity between the two squads as Coach Fisher won a Gold medal with Rachel Fairbanks and three Gators (Merritt Beason (RS/OH), Alexis Stucky (S) and Bre Kelley (MB)) with the U.S. U21 National Team over the summer. Pitt leads the all-time series, 2-1, despite nobody on either team being born the last time the two teams met, in September of 1998.
#H2P | Twitter | Instagram | Facebook
Players Mentioned
RS
/ Volleyball
S/RS
/ Volleyball
MB
/ Volleyball
OH
/ Volleyball
MB
/ Volleyball
OH
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