Questions I Get Asked at Pitt Volleyball Matches (Part 2 of 2)
No stupid questions. Only stupid answers.
This is Day 5 of 22 for the Bandwagoner’s Guide to Pitt Volleyball.
My name is James Santelli, and if you like what you’re reading, take a moment and subscribe to get it in your inbox.
Every time someone subscribes, an angel gets its wings and an NCAA Volleyball committee member gets a kidney stone.
And if you didn’t read Part 1 of the Q&A, why don’t you start with that before reading Part 2? I’ll wait.
WHY DID THE COACH TAKE HER OUT?
While this question is rarely asked to me directly, I’ll hear it in the crowd at volleyball matches.
Variations of it include: “Whoa, she must’ve done something the coach didn’t like” and “Why would you take her out when she just got a point?”
I assume most of you learned in gym class about volleyball rotations. At least, the people who voted in my Twitter poll learned about them.
There we are.
Now, if you’re:
Rotating spots on the court
Loaded with a roster of players featuring different skillsets
Able to use 15 substitutions per set
Then you’re going to bring players on and off the court as you rotate. On this Pitt roster, it helps to think of the regular players in a few categories:
SIX-ROTATION PLAYERS: Kayla Lund, Stephanie Williams
This is the core of your starting lineup — two players who can attack, block, serve and pass. They’ve got enough height to play in the front row and enough agility to keep the ball off the floor in the back row.
Lund has been the best all-around player for Pitt the last two years, leading the Panthers and kills and finishing 2nd in digs. She also won 2019 Player of the Year in the ACC, which is a real conference (despite what some NCAA committee members might think).
Williams will go down in the Pitt record books as one of the best Panthers ever:
5th all-time in kills (1,444)
8th all-time in aces (128)
11th all-time in digs (1,186)
She has been the bridge from the developing teams early on in Coach Dan Fisher’s tenure to the top-level team of today.
FRONT ROW: Layne Van Buskirk, Sabrina Starks, Chi Ndee
Van Buskirk, who played for Team Canada at the Pan-American Games, will also go down as an all-time great Panther (tied for 2nd all-time in hitting percentage, 5th in total blocks).
If Pitt makes a deep run in this tournament, it’s because Starks and Ndee are raining down hell on them at the net.
Starks is the kind of middle blocker you see on powerhouse teams. She has been Pitt’s breakout star in her sophomore year, particularly when she dominated Boston College to the tune of 13 blocks in three sets (3rd-most total blocks for Pitt all-time).
Ndee doesn’t just kill the ball. She KILLS the ball. Baseball scouts will say “the ball sounds different off his bat.” Well, the ball sounds different off Ndee’s right hand.
SETTERS: Lexis Akeo, Maddie Soboleski
It’s a bit hackneyed to say setters are the quarterbacks of volleyball. Instead, let’s call them the point guards. (That’s still trite, but it’s more accurate.)
Pitt lost an experienced point guard before the season even began when Kylee Levers tore her ACL.
Things looked bad, but 17-year-old Lexis Akeo has been fearless from the very first point of the season. She has played in all 103 sets for Pitt, distributing the ball for an offense that finished 4th in the nation with 14.8 kills per set.
But when she rotates to the front row, there’s no hiding the fact that Akeo is 5-foot-8. Later in the season, Fisher has given 6-foot-tall Soboleski a bit more playing time to give Pitt a different look against the bigger teams.
HITTER DEPTH: Nika Markovic, Zoi Faki, Chiamaka Nwokolo
Markovic, the Slovenian Slammer (it’ll catch on), was Third Team All-America a season ago. Faki can play all six spots on the floor. Nwokolo, a true freshman, had a coming out party with 7 kills against Syracuse, but missed all of November with an injury.
On most teams, any of these three would be a solid starter at outside hitter. But this is not most teams.
DEFENSIVE SUBS: Avery Perosa, Ashley Browske
Both Perosa and Browske have made solid contributions off the bench, particularly late in sets when Pitt needs to keep the ball off the floor. They will likely compete to start at libero next year. Oh, that reminds me:
WHY DOES SHE HAVE A DIFFERENT COLOR JERSEY?
Hali Hillegas wears a different jersey to signify that she’s a beast.
Well, that’s only half-true. She’s the libero (pronounced luh-BEAR-oh, LEE-bur-oh, or LEE-bro, depending on how much of a douche you are).
There are whole articles that get into the specifics, but here are the important bits about liberos:
They only play in the back row
They’re mostly in for their defense
They can come in and out of the game without it being a formal substitution
The key moment off the court for Pitt in 2019 was when Fisher brought in Hillegas in January. She has been the real deal since coming over from Iowa State, leading a Pitt defense that held opponents to a .145 hitting percentage (7th in the nation, 1st among Power 5-conference schools).
Pitt has the offensive attack and the defensive stoppers to outlast teams in the tournament. And we’re only a day away from seeing them in action again.
Okay, that was Part 2 of 2. But I actually have one more question, the one I said yesterday that bugged me the most. I’ll answer that (and concurrently get you ready for the NCAA opener against Howard) on Friday. Talk at you then.
Update: Here you go! Part 3 of 2!