Second-Set Comeback Joins Pantheon of All-Time Pitt Volleyball Moments
As Pitt heads to a fourth straight Final Four, here's a little bit of holiday gratitude for how we got here.
Okay, here’s what I am *not* writing about — I’m not writing that it’s some miscarriage of justice that Pitt has to play Louisville in the Final Four (6:30 PM Eastern on Thursday, ESPN) at its part-time home, the KFC Yum! Center. Yeah, it stinks, and I wrote as much earlier this month. But the NCAA awards championship hosting sites far in advance — four years ago in this case. Louisville played its way to the Final Four. It happens to be in their hometown. Go beat them.
On to the fun stuff.
Momentum may be overrated in sports. In other sports. Not college volleyball. Not at the Petersen Events Center.
Pitt trailed 16-22 in the second set, where it looked like Kentucky was about to even the match at one set apiece. Kentucky got Point #22 on a kill by Brooklyn DeLeye, who looked at times like the most dominant player on the floor. How was Pitt going to slow her down?
Turns out — with a Mallorie Meyer service run. The freshman service specialist has been the spark Pitt needed in this NCAA Tournament to pull out victories over Oregon and Kentucky when the Panthers haven’t looked their best.
A kill here, a block there, a missed attack by Kentucky wayyyy over there.1 Suddenly Pitt had scored seven straight points, pulled ahead 23-22 and the Petersen Events Center was bouncin' like it was 20 years earlier and Julius Page had just swished a dagger three-pointer.
“I don’t think it was necessarily one thing, just a combination of things,” said Kentucky coach Craig Skinner. “You gotta execute in matches like this, and we just couldn’t get one sideout there to get us on defense a little bit sooner.”2
Pitt wrapped up the comeback (“an incredible comeback,” said Pitt’s head coach Dan Fisher) with a clutch Rachel Fairbanks ace to the back corner. Kentucky trying to even up the match? Forget about it. Pitt was up 2-0, and the party was on.
“It really showed how much grit we have, and how much want we have, and how much we wanted it,” said Olivia Babcock, the likely National Player of the Year.
Momentum shifts can crystallize when a crowd of 9,525 is behind you, and Pitt fans knew that their Panthers were ready to finish a perfect 19-0 home season.
“It’s special to play in front of big crowds,” said Fisher. “I know it’s happening more and more. But when you’re celebrating, it’s good to celebrate in front of a bigger crowd.”
Added Babcock: “The support from this environment, you can tell that everyone is pulling for us.”
Along with the party we all got to enjoy when newly-number-one Pitt Volleyball sold out the Petersen Events Center and promptly swept Penn State, the indelible moment for me from Pitt’s 2024 home season will be the fight they showed to come back and win that second set against Kentucky. The Pete has rarely rocked harder.
Over this run of four straight Final Fours, I find myself asking if Saturday was one of the best moments for Pitt Volleyball? There are some real contenders:
2021: Feels Like The First Time
Kayla Lund, the first-ever First Team All-American Panther, and Chinaza Ndee will always be celebrated among Pitt fans for taking the program from good to great, from strong to stellar. But in order to make their first-ever Final Four run, the Panthers needed more weapons to join alongside.
In perhaps his finest work aiming his Transfer Portal Doohickey (credit Semple Fi Podcast), Fisher convinced highly-touted middle Serena Gray to leave Penn State with two years of eligibility remaining and saved explosive hitter Lekeor Member-Meneh from a collapsing Missouri program. With these championship-level players on board, Pitt had its best tournament yet.
Gray defeated her former teammates from Penn State in a milestone win for the program, albeit in front of only 2,593 fans (which I wrote more about last week). Then Pitt took care of business against Kansas in the Sweet 16.
But the win against Purdue to clinch Pitt’s first-ever Final Four stands out. If I had to pick one moment, it comes at 0:53 in this highlight video:
Gosh, the thumbnail even tells the story of how much Member-Meneh went off in that match.
THE MOMENT: It was 14-14 in the opening set when Valeria Vazquez-Gomez saved a ball from the back corner, forcing Kayla Lund to run back and throw up a blind behind-the back pass. Somehow, it was perfect. Member-Meneh was able to approach and deliver a perfect shot to give Pitt the lead, one of her match-high 21 kills en route to being the Pittsburgh Region Most Valuable Player.
The other moment came immediately after match point. Pitt wins, all of the players pile on to celebrate, and Serena Gray simply pats them on your heads, almost a “you’re welcome” moment from the transfer. God, that was such a fun match at the Field House to be attending.
2022: The Wisconsin Match, of course
I mean, what else could it be? It was the greatest win in Pitt Volleyball history at the time. It’s still the greatest road win in program history.
While Pitt could have expected a semi-rebuilding year in 2022, another Big Ten transfer in Iowa’s Courtney Buzzerio took on the offensive load, becoming one of only ten players in Pitt history to record more than 1,000 attacks in a season.3 She and Gray became the program’s second- and third-ever First-Team All-Americans.
But it was the upset win in Madison, Wisconsin that seared this team into Pitt history.
THE MOMENT: When you knew Cat Flood was cold-blooded. You have the screenshot that has since been laser-eyed (again, credit Semple Fi for that) and shared thousands of times. She cemented herself as Pitt’s best serving specialist ever with the pressure she applied in what should have been an intimidating UW Field House.
I’ve been to hundreds of sporting events in my life, but I still don’t think I’ve been to a louder arena than the cozy old gym in Madison, Wisconsin. Hearing it silenced was a joy to experience.
2023: The Year of the Reverse Sweep
Over the years, Pitt has recruited more talented players, better athletes. The crowds have gotten bigger. The profile of the program has risen closer to that of the blue bloods like Penn State, Nebraska, Wisconsin and Texas.
Still, you need grit and heart. And if you want examples of Pitt showing those traits, just look at the reverse sweeps of the 2023 season.4
The first came against Georgia Tech, which took the first two sets by a 25-23 margin. Undeterred, Pitt rattled off the next three by margins of eight, ten and seven points to stave off the upset. That night, Fitzgerald Field House was the Fitzgerald Loud House.
While I thought that would be the trademark win of the 2023 regular season, Pitt took it up a notch against a then-record crowd of 8,865 at the Pete a month and a half later. Rival Louisville deflated the Panthers in Set 2 by surviving three straight Pitt set points and winning 26-24. Then… well, I won’t go through the whole match, but suffice to say Pitt needed extra points to win 17-15 in the fifth. A thriller.
And I thought that would be the trademark win of 2023 overall. Well! Turns out Pitt just wanted to reverse-sweep Louisville twice. This time, for a spot in the Final Four.
THE MOMENT: I mean, it’s easy to say Emma Monks drilling it off the face of Louisville libero Elena Scott for the win… so I will!
In more seriousness, Pitt showed amazing strength and stamina to keep firing against one of the best defenses in the country. And when they jumped out to an 11-3 lead in the fifth set, even as Louisville tried to slow them down with timeouts and challenges, you knew where it was headed. (Even if Elena Scott didn’t.)
Grateful, Not Complacent
So why did I take you on that trip through the past?5
It’s because I want to stop and take stock of what has been a… well, I guess the word is magical four seasons of Pitt Volleyball. Ever since full crowds could return to Oakland in the fall of 2021, Pitt has been a dominant force in the rare sport that’s growing in popularity.
Gratitude is something we should feel more often, though as sports fans we rarely do. Expectations rise. We get some wins, we want more. We get a Final Four berth, we want a National Championship. If we don’t, the losses stir anger.
It doesn’t have to be that way. We can want the best from our teams without being ungrateful for their accomplishments along the way.
Fisher, asked about his players who have helped Pitt accomplish four straight Final Fours said on Saturday, “I just want them to realize how special that is.”
Pitt didn’t just show up at #1 in the country with a crowd of 9,525 fans cheering them on to another National Semifinal appearance. They had to build it. Seeds were sown and success grew. I have been thrilled to watch it unfold.
But gratitude and complacency are not synonyms. This team is capable of more. They’re about to play a Louisville team that they have beaten twice, 113-103 and and 93-84 in total points. The winner gets either Penn State, owner of seven National Titles, or Nebraska, owner of five. When its attack is clicking, Pitt is capable of beating any of them.
My hope is we get at least one more moment this week that joins the Pantheon of great moments in Pitt Volleyball history. If that moment involves the Panthers raising a trophy, so much the better.
Kentucky showed that being aggressive had its downsides. They committed 16 attack errors to Pitt’s 3 (not including blocks) and 11 service errors to Pitt’s 7. Here’s Dan Fisher: “There was kind of a strange flow of it for a while, but I thought by the time we got into the 3rd set, the energy — it felt a little more like us.”
Here is a link to Kentucky’s media availability. And here is a link to Pitt’s availability. I want to add a note of appreciation for the credentialed reporters who are asking the questions while I enjoy a celebratory post-match drink. I like using quotes from the coaches and players in these newsletters, but the quotes don’t happen without those reporters.
Olivia Babcock recently became the 10th, with exactly 1,100 attacks this season. She took a season-high 69 swings against Oregon on Thursday but only needed 32 on Saturday to secure Pittsburgh Region MVP.
The “reverse sweep” is a term I’ve heard more often in volleyball than any other sport. Simply put, you’ve lost the first two sets, but you take the last three in a row to win the match.
Y’knows, besides the fact that it’s MY newsletter and I’m doing this for free, damnit!