ACC: Pitt Wins At Home, as do ‘Cuse, FSU, BC, Miami

ACC

• Oct. 21, 2018

Pitt nailed down the top spot in the league at the midway point, edging past Louisville in four sets, while Syracuse, Florida State, Boston College and Miami also held home court.

Bucking the trend were Duke, which topped Virginia Tech in five, and Notre Dame, which won in four at Virginia.

Updated Standings

Pitt def. Louisville 3-1 (25-22, 26-24, 26-28, 25-20)

• Box Score / Pitt Recap / Louisville Recap / VolleyMob Recap
• Pitt rallied from down 16-6 in Set 4 to steal away the 25-20 win and the match. The Panthers utilized a 15-1 run, including four Louisville errors, three Nika Markovic aces and three blocks and two kills by Layne Van Buskirk, to turn the tables.
• Pitt won its 22nd straight match and moved to 10-0 in the ACC for the first time in program history with the four-set win in front of a record crowd.
• The win was Pitt’s first over Louisville since Oct. 23, 2016.
• Louisville was better at the net, outhitting Pitt .193 to .188 and boasting a 55-54 edge in kills and 16-14 advantage in blocks. Pitt outserved the Cardinals 8-6 in aces.
• Stephanie Williams (17 kills, 10 digs, 5 blocks), Kayla Lund (14 kills, 15 digs) and Van Buskirk (10 kills, 12 blocks) paced the Panthers.
• Amanda Green (16 kills, 4 blocks) and Melanie McHenry (15 kills, 14 digs, 3 blocks) led the way for Louisville.

Syracuse def. NC State 3-1 (25-9, 22-25, 25-20, 25-23)

• Box Score / Syracuse Recap / NC State Recap
• NC State freshman outside Jade Parchment notched a career-high 20 kills on a .400 hitting effort and senior Teni Sopitan added 18 putaways, but it was not enough to lift the Wolfpack to victory.
• Freshman outside Polina Shemanova recorded a match-high 21 kills and 15 digs for the Orange.
• The eight conference wins through 10 matches are a program best for Syracuse.
• Syracuse racked up 14 blocks, including eight by Santita Ebangwese and six by Yulia Yastrub.

Duke def. Virginia Tech 3-2

• Box Score / Duke Recap / Virginia Tech Recap
• Duke won its second straight five-setter, rallying from down 2-0 for the victory. The Blue Devils hit .260 or better in the final three stanzas.
• Duke outhit Virginia Tech .254 to .205 in the match and outblocked the Hokies 16-9.
• Four Duke players posted double-digit kill tallies: Andie Shelton (17), Payton Schwantz (14 kills, 12 digs), Leah Meyer (12 kills, 7 blocks) and Samantha Amos (10).
• Jaila Tolbert notched a match-high 19 putaways for Virginia Tech, while Kaity Smith (17 kills, 15 digs) and Ester Talamazzi (14 kills, 17 digs) followed with double-doubles.

Florida State def. Clemson 3-1

• Box Score / Florida State Recap / Clemson Recap 
• FSU picked up its sixth straight win after outhitting Clemson .364 to .129 and outblocking the Tigers 14-5.
• Four Seminoles posted nine or more kills, led by Ashley Murray‘s 11 on a .500 hitting effort. Christina Ambrose added 10 putaways, while Taryn Knuth (9 kills, 7 blocks) and Payton Caffrey (9 kills, 3 aces) also contributed.
• Brooke Bailey downed a match-high 17 kills for Clemson, but hit just .019 in the match (17-16-53).
• Crystal Childs earned her first start for Clemson, making her the seventh Tiger freshman to start a match in 2018. Childs posted nine kills, nine digs and an ace, while hitting .278.

Boston College def. North Carolina 3-0 (27-25, 25-12, 25-19)

• Box Score / Boston College Recap / North Carolina Recap 
• BC topped North Carolina for the first time in program history after dropping the previous 22 meetings since the series began in 2005.
• The Eagles hit .300 or better in all three sets, including a .429 clip in Set 2, managing a .365 effort for the match.
• Jewel Strawberry led all hitters with 14 kills, while Clare Naughton posted a 13-kill, 10-dig double-double on a match-high .522 hitting effort for BC. Skylar Wine put down 11 kills to pace the Tar Heels.

Miami def. Georgia Tech 3-1 (25-22, 25-19, 16-25, 25-16)

• Box Score / Miami Recap / Georgia Tech Recap 
• Georgia Tech hit at an eye-popping .778 clip as a team in the 25-16 Set 3 win, committing just one hitting error (15-1-18). The Yellow Jackets could not maintain the efficiency, however, hitting .000 in Set 4 (10-10-40).
• Elizaveta Lukianova (14), Chloe Brown (12) and Kolby Bird (11) turned in double-digit kill tallies to lead the Hurricanes. Each hit .250 or better, led by Bird’s .368 effort.
• Mikaela Dowd (13) paced Georgia Tech, while Lauren Frerking added 10 kills on a match-high .500 hitting effort (10-2-16).

Notre Dame def. Virginia 3-1 (24-26, 25-11, 25-17, 25-15)

• Box Score / Notre Dame Recap / Virginia Recap
• Virginia came up empty in the win column for the fourth straight match despite winning the opening stanza in each contest.
• The Irish were better in every way, outhitting Virginia .265 to 108 and outdoing the Cavaliers in kills (50-44), aces (9-1) and blocks (12-6). Notre Dame held Virginia to a -.028 hitting effort (9-10-36) in Set 3 and just a .027 effort in Set 4.
• Jemma Yeadon led all hitters with 18 kills on a .317 clip for the Irish.
• Alex Spencer notched her first career double-double for Virginia (10 kills, 16 digs), while Sarah Billiard also added 10 kills.

Next Up

• Florida State takes on instate foe Miami in Coral Gables at 6:30 p.m. ET Wednesday.