University of Pittsburgh Athletics
Pitt
1-0,0-0ACC
Kentucky
1-1,0-0SEC
| Team | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | Final F |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Pittsburgh | 25 | 21 | 25 | 25 | 3 |
| Kentucky | 14 | 25 | 13 | 21 | 1 |
No. 4 Pitt Beats No. 3 Kentucky Decisively In Season Opener
8/23/2026 6:46:00 PM | Volleyball
MILWAUKEE, WISC. – No. 4 Pitt made an early-season statement, kicking off the 2026 volleyball season with a four-set victory over No. 3 Kentucky Sunday at Fiserv Forum in the Jeep AVCA First Serve. Two-time AVCA National Player of the Year Olivia Babcock finished with 27 kills and junior transfer setter Izzy Starck dished out 41 assists for the Panthers.
Babcock's 27 kills were her most in a season opener and her career-best in five career matches against Kentucky. It was the 21st time in her career in which she has recorded at least 20 kills. But the Pitt defense was just as strong, recording 14 blocks and holding Kentucky to a .086 hitting percentage, their lowest attack percentage since posting an .084 attack percentage in a three-set loss to Pitt on Sept. 1, 2023.
Starck was named MVP of the match. Along with her 41 assists, she had 13 digs, five blocks and a key pair of kills.
FIRST SET
- Pitt hit .346 in the opening set and held Kentucky to -.032 as the Panthers ran away with a 25-14 win.
- Trailing 4-3, Pitt went on a 7-2 run and was never threatened again.
- Ayanna Watson served five consecutive points in a 6-0 Pitt run that made it 18-9. The Panthers cruised from there.
- Olivia Babcock led Pitt with six kills and three digs, while Izzy Starck had eight assists in her first set as a Panther.
SECOND SET
- Pitt used a 4-0 run to turn around a two-point deficit early to go ahead 7-5.
- With back-to-back kills, Babcock hit double-digits in kills and Pitt pulled ahead 11-7.
- Kentucky rallied back from a four-points deficit with a 6-2 run to tie the set at 16-16.
- The Wildcats finally took the lead back with a block at 20-19. Kentucky closed the set with four straight points for the 25-21 victory.
THIRD SET
- The teams see-sawed through the early stages of the third set before Pitt used a four-point run to go ahead 13-9.
- Pitt continued to build the lead, going ahead by seven at 18-11 after back-to-back kills from Babcock and Bayless.
- The Panthers rolled to the 25-13 win by hitting .500 in the stanza.
FOURTH SET
- Kentucky scored the first four points of the set and held off Pitt rallies until a 5-1 run gave the Panthers a 13-11 lead.
- Pitt kept building from there, pushing the margin to as many as four points at 21-17 behind kills from Babcock and Starck.
- Kentucky pieced together a late push, pulling within two points at 23-21, but the Panthers closed the door with back-to-back points to secure the 25-21 win and the match.
NOTABLE
- Freshman Maaike Heilig made her debut with eight blocks and had three kills on three swings.
- Olivia Babcock came up one dig shy of a double-double with 27 kills and nine digs, along with four blocks.
- Blaire Bayless was the only other Pitt player in double figures in kills with 10. She was also perfect on 17 serve receives and had eight digs and three blocks.
- Freshman Ayanna Watson had six kills and two of Pitt's three service aces.
- Pitt hit .297 for the match, which included a .500 attack percentage in set three following Kentucky's lone victory in set two.
- Pitt improved to 154-20 since the start of the 2021 season, including a record of 48-6 in regular season non-conference matches.
- Pitt moved to 17-5 against ranked opponents in non-conference play since the start of the 2021 season. The Panthers improved to 3-3 in the last six years in season openers, all against ranked opponents.
- Pitt is now 47-14 in neutral site matches since joining the ACC in 2013.
UP NEXT
- Now 1-0 on the season, Pitt will turn around to face Xavier Monday on the final day of the Jeep AVCA First Serve at 4:00 p.m.
- That match will be televised on FS2.
- Xavier will be playing its first match of the 2026 season, but went 26-5 a year ago and advanced to the NCAA Tournament.
