Pitt gets first spot in Tampa as Panthers pull reverse sweep — again! — on Louisville

There was no way. 

No way it could happen again.

But it did.

Pitt, down two sets to none on its home floor against ACC rival Louisville, didn’t just bounce back.

No, the Panthers woke up and absolutely destroyed Louisville after that, winning 23-25, 20-25, 25-16, 25-19, 15-7 in a reverse-sweep outcome eerily similar to what happened at Pitt just three weeks ago.

Now fourth-seeded Pittsburgh (29-4) will make its third trip in a row to the NCAA Tournament national semifinals, while fifth-seeded Louisville ends its season 27-5.

“I continue to be amazed by this group and their will,” Pitt coach Dan Fisher said. “And they’re not done yet.”

Pitt, playing the first match of four regional finals, will head to Tampa for the NCAA Division I Women’s Volleyball Championship, and plays top-seeded Nebraska after the Huskers got past Arkansas in four. 

Pitt freshman Torrey Stafford led with 18 kills, hitting .378, and had 11 digs and two blocks.

“We regrouped together (after the second set) so we could make a difference in the third set,” Stafford said.

Another freshman, Olivia Babcock, struggled each but finished with 16 kills, an assist, three aces, seven digs and five blocks.  

Emma Monks, the graduate-student transfer middle from Michigan State, was spectacular, finishing with eight kills — including the match winner — and two errors in 15 attacks to hit .400 and had an assist and nine blocks, one solo. Chiamaka Nwokolo had six kills in 11 errorless attaccks to hit .545 and had five blocks, two solo. Valeria Vazquez Gomez struggled with eight kills but nine errors, but added an assist, four aces, eight digs and a block. 

Rachel Fairbanks had a kill in two errorless tries, 48 assists, an ace, seven digs and three blocks. Her team hit .286. 

“When you’re down 2-0, you literally have nothing to lose,” Fairbanks said. “You have to give it your all. There’s no other option. You can’t hold back anything.”

The third set was tied 9-9 before the Panthers, who have won nine a row, ran away. Stafford had six of her kills with no errors in eight attacks. Pitt hit .545 in the fifth set with seven kills and one error in 11 attacks, including three by Babcock in six errorless swings.

“I thought it was a hard-fought match. It’s a bummer to be up here after you lose,” said Louisville coach Dani Busboom Kelly, who took her team to the 2021 national semifinals and to last year’s championship match, which it lost to Texas. “We’re proud of this team and how far it came, but every year is a different story. From the beginning of the year to the end of the year, this team has transformed and the saddest part is it’s the last day we’re going to be together as a group.”

Louisville, which finished hitting .213, could not have started better. The Cardinals hit .333 in the first set and .300 in the second, but it was all downhill after that, especially in the fifth, when they had five kills but six errors. 

Anna DeBeer had 13 kills, hit .135, and had an assist, eight digs and three blocks. Phekran Kong also had 13 kills and had just one error in 19 attacks to go with eight blocks. Aiko Jones, who had seven kills in as many swings to start the match, finished with nine, five errors, an assist, five digs and six blocks. Cara Cresse had nine kills with two errors in 18 swings to hit .389 and had an ace and five blocks, one solo.

Outside Charitie Luper, the UCLA transfer, struggled terribly. She finished with eight kills and seven errors in 39 attacks and only late got into the positive for hitting. She had an ace, a block and six digs.

Elle Glock had no kills, 39 assists, four digs and a block. Elena Scott had 10 digs, four assists and three aces.

“They’re the best, they’re gritty and their well coached,” Fisher said of his rival. “They’ve helped us and we’ve helped them over the years. I wish we could have been on the other side of the bracket so we both could have gotten there. They’re were incredible tonight.”

Pittsburgh held a 14-13 blocks advantage and had 11 aces compared to Louisville’s five.

In their first regular-season meeting in October, Louisville swept at home. Then on November 18 at Pitt, the Panthers also fell behind 2-0 before winning 19-25, 24-26, 26-24. ,25-21, 17-15.

The match started, as scheduled, at 4 p.m. Eastern. But viewers had to watch on ESPN+ until 13 minutes after the hour as ESPNU showed the end of a non-conference men’s basketball game between Grand Canyon and Liberty.

Lee Feinswog

Lee Feinswog is the publisher and editor of VolleyballMag.com
Contact him at Lee@VolleyballMag.com