PITTSBURGH – The No. 1 Pitt Panthers volleyball team (15-0, 5-0 ACC) notched its 15th straight win and fifth top 25 victory of the season (25-17, 25-18, 25-9) against SMU (12-4, 4-1 ACC) on Wednesday night in the form of another sweep. Olivia Babcock recorded a match-high 18 kills, hitting a season best .571 while adding seven digs, four aces and three blocks. Rachel Fairbanks recorded a match-high 37 assists with seven digs, two kills and an ace.
Pitt and SMU battled from the first point of the match as SMU held an early 8-7 lead. The Panthers responded with a 5-0 run behind the serve of Fairbanks to force an SMU timeout. Fairbanks rattled off two more points, but a 3-0 run from the Mustangs caused Pitt to take its first timeout of the set. Three combined kills from Torrey Stafford and Babcock, and a Valeria Vazquez Gomez ace propelled Pitt to a comfortable 20-12 lead as the Mustangs took their final timeout. The Panthers sided out at an impressive clip down the stretch, and a kill from Bre Kelley captured the first set victory, 25-17.
The new ACC foes continued to battle it out for the first half of the second set. Neither team called a timeout until the media break with Pitt leading 15-12. An SMU error and a kill from Babcock caused the Mustangs to take a timeout, down 12-17. Another kill from Babcock and two Vazquez Gomez aces forced SMU to take its final timeout at 20-12. The Mustangs clawed for points down the stretch, but Pitt handled business and won the second, 25-18. Babcock notched 12 kills in the set, hitting a blistering .688.
SMU responded out of the break and forced an early Pitt timeout as the Mustangs led, 4-2. After a service error from the Mustangs, Babcock rattled off six straight points and four aces in the stretch causing SMU to talk it over. A trio of Panther kills, an ace from Dillyn Griffin and unforced errors on the side of SMU was enough for the Mustangs to call their final timeout, down 7-16. A dominant 9-2 run behind yet another impressive serving performance from Vazquez Gomez led to a 25-9 third set win and 3-0 sweep.
NOTES
– Olivia Babcock hit a season-high .571 with 16 kills
– Rachel Fairbanks notched 37 assists in the sweep, averaging 12.3 a set
– Valeria Vazquez Gomez recorded a season-high 14 digs
– Bre Kelley had a match-high six blocks
UP NEXT
The No. 1 Panthers hit the road to finish the home-and-home series with No. 15 SMU on Saturday. First serve is set for 2 p.m. ET and will be streamed on ACCNX.
Source: Charissa Coleman/Pitt Athletics
