University of Pittsburgh Athletics
10/22/2026 2:45:00 PM | Volleyball
At 24-20, the set looked gone.
SMU had just ripped off a 6-0 run, and Pitt needed a spark.
Marina Pezelj was already on the floor, having been subbed in during the run. Then Pitt sided out to make it 24-21, and for the first time all match, the ball was hers to serve. The Panthers scored two straight, then Pezelj aced the Mustangs to take the momentum. That was all the energy they needed to secure the win.
She broke the moment into pieces. Get to 24 first, then finish the job. A team session earlier in the week had centered on the idea that pressure is a privilege, and she walked to the line with that in her head.
"I didn't really think of anything," Pezelj said. "I was just, I need to do it. That's what athletes do every single time."
six-straight points to win it? SIX-STRAIGHT POINTS TO WIN IT?? https://t.co/uVIxvfX4lK
— Pitt Volleyball (@Pitt_VB) October 11, 2026
It was the biggest moment of a season that has not gone the way she planned.
Pezelj stepped into a starting role at outside hitter in 2025 and gave Pitt 1.60 kills and 1.59 digs per set.
She spent the opening weeks of 2026 on the sideline with a lower body injury. The questions about where she was and when she'd be back followed her around the program.
The turning point came when her doctor cleared her for the back row. Pezelj decided right then to treat it as a real job, not a placeholder.
"I've got to really lock in for this and be an honest back-row player," Pezelj said.
Her return came in pieces. She made her season debut against High Point on Sept. 12, then got a trial run as Ayanna Watson's defensive specialist against Syracuse.
In the first meeting with SMU on Oct. 7, she finished the match in the back row and was arguably Pitt's best passer on the floor.
Pezelj is still limited in practice to about 30 or 40 jumps a day, and the front row remains off-limits for now. But Fisher has seen the change.
"She wasn't available to us early in the season, and she's not all the way back," Fisher said. "But what I've seen the last week to two weeks is she's getting her explosiveness back. So as a hitter, yes, but also that quick first step. She's looking a lot closer to 100% than we've seen all year."
Pezelj has narrowed her focus to the one thing in front of her. With only the back row to worry about, every pass and every dig has to count, so she goes in intending to deliver every ball and refuses to overthink it.
The arrangement has a side benefit she's embraced.
Watson handles the front-row rotations, and Pezelj slides in behind her in the back row. Pezelj likes being the complement, and says the two have found a good balance. Watson blocks and hits up front, and Pezelj covers the back.
It also takes some of the weight off a first-year player, who doesn't have to carry every rotation by herself.
Pezelj also sees it as an investment in the player she'll be when she's healthy.
"An outside is kind of doing everything. Blocking, hitting, defense, passing, serving," Pezelj said. "Right now I take it as a challenge. I really need to be better in the back row, so when I go to the front row, I can bring those skills with me."
The work started while she was hurt.
She moved around the court and took extra reps passing the ball in front of her and attacking it, and she says passing has been steady ever since. The next piece is quicker feet on defense. The payoff is what she calls the sweet spot, the pass that lands exactly on target thanks to the right angle and platform.
Patience has been the lesson of the year. She leaned on her parents through the long rehab and told herself the same thing at the start of each practice. The process is still going.
"Be really patient with yourself," Pezelj said. "That was a really long process, and it still is. Patience is key to improving after. That's what I said to myself every day going to practice."
She says the alternative is hard to imagine.
She could have spent the whole season on the sideline, and she didn't want to. Playing, even in a limited role, is something she's grateful for, and she wants to give the team everything she can on the court and off it, including as one of its louder voices.
Ask her about her favorite moment of the season so far, and she doesn't have to think long. It was the end of that SMU set, with the pressure at its highest and her teammates fighting alongside her.
"When the pressure is at its highest, it's fun to see how the team fights in that kind of moment," Pezelj said. "I hope we're going to have more. I think we will."
