Match Info
- Miami at Pittsburgh (ACC Match)
- Pittsburgh, PA
- Pittsburgh improves to 18-6 (11-2 ACC) ; Miami drops to 15-5 (9-5 ACC)
- Attendance: 612
- Box Score
The host Pittsburgh Panthers rallied from a first set loss to the visiting Miami Hurricanes, winning the next three, to maintain their status tied at the top of the ACC standings. Set scores were 22-25, 25-16, 25-11, 25-20. Kayla Lund led the Pitt offense with 19 kills while Nika Markovic and Stephanie Williams chipped in 15 and 11 kills respectively. Kamalani Akeo dished out 38 assists and Angela Seman paced the defense with 19 digs.
The Panthers led the match in kills 56-47, digs 57-52, assists 55-45, blocks 11-5, aces 8-4, and hitting percentage .346 to .172. The Panthers improved to 18-6 (11-2 ACC) and will return to action on Sunday, November 5th to host Florida State.
Kolby Bird led the Hurricanes with 18 kills while Olga Strantzali put up a double double with 12 kills and 14 digs. Haley Templeton collected a match high 42 assists while Sylvia Hernandez led the defense with 15 digs.
It was the 5th conference loss of the season for Miami who have now fallen three losses behind conference co-leaders Pittsburgh, Louisville, and N.C. State. The Hurricanes will return to action on Thursday, November 9th to host Boston College.
Press Release:
Courtesy of Pittsburgh Athletics
PITTSBURGH – The University of Pittsburgh volleyball team remains atop of the ACC after defeating Miami in four sets Friday evening at the Fitzgerald Field House.
With the win, the Panthers move to 18-6 on the season and 11-2 in conference play, while the Hurricanes fall to 15-5 on the season and 9-5 in the ACC.
Despite falling 25-22 in the opening set, Pitt bounced back to take down Miami in the following three frames, 25-16, 25-11 and 25-20. The Panthers out-hit the Hurricanes .346 to .172 and recorded more kills (56/47), digs (57/52), aces (8/4) and blocks (11/5) than Miami.
Pitt was solid on offense, as the entire squad made contributions. Pitt had three players with double-digit kills including freshman Kayla Lund, who recorded a career-high 19 kills in the match, while hitting .364. In addition to Lund, sophomore Nika Markovic tallied a team-leading .448 hitting percentage with 15 kills, while redshirt sophomore Stephanie Williams added 11 kills and hit a .321 clip to round out the Panthers’ attack.
Junior Kamalani Akeo led the captained the offense as she finished with 38 assists.
Defensively, Williams added 11 digs to complete her sixth double-double of the year, while redshirt junior Angela Seman closed out the match with a team-leading 19 digs. Freshman Chinaza Ndee led Pitt’s block at the net with six assists.
From the service line, Williams also led the team as she earned four aces for the third time in her career and for the second consecutive match.
Set One: Miami 25, Pitt 22
The Panthers fell in the first set of the match, as Miami defeated Pitt 25-22.
The Panthers struggled at the start of the opening set as Miami jumped out to a 10-5 lead. Pitt called their first timeout at this point, but returned to the floor to score just one before the Hurricanes put up back-to-back kills to force the Panthers to take its second timeout.
Following the break, Miami remained in control of the set, until the Panthers found their way back. Pitt forced the Hurricanes to take their first timeout after back-to-back kills by Ndee and Van Buskirk made it 21-19.
The visiting team took their second timeout just points later as the Panthers pulled within one, 23-22, thanks to three consecutive kills by Lund.
In the end Pitt was unable to stop Miami as its comeback fell short.
Set Two: Pitt 25, Miami 16
The Panthers bounced back in the second set to earn a 25-22 victory and tie the match at one set apiece. Pitt hit .355 in the set with 14 kills, led by Lund with six. The Panthers held the Hurricanes to a .035 clip.
Pitt found a rhythm from the start of the set as they opened with four-straight points, before pushing out to a 10-4 lead. Miami called a timeout to try and slow the Panthers but Pitt extended its lead to 11, courtesy of three straight kills by Lund. This prompted another break from the struggling Hurricanes as the Panthers took a 22-11 lead.
Pitt gave up four straight points to Miami before closing out the frame but had the room for error, leading by 12.
Set Three: Pitt 25, Miami 11
The Panthers took a 2-1 lead in the match after dominating the Hurricanes in the third set. Pitt gave up just 11 points to Miami in the frame.
The Panthers were hot from the start of the set as they outscored the Hurricanes 6-1 to bring along a visiting team timeout. Pitt remained hot, going on a 7-1 run just a few points later to extend their lead to 10.
Trailing 16-6, the Hurricanes called their second timeout, but the Panthers continued to rack up the points en route to a dominating 25-11 win.
Set Four: Pitt 25, Miami 20
Pitt earned a four-set win after outlasting Miami 25-20 in the final frame of the match. The Panthers’ attack was on point as Pitt hit .441, tallying 15 kills in the set without committing a single hitting error.
For the third straight frame, the Panthers found an early lead which led to yet another early Hurricanes’ timeout. However, out of this break, Miami worked its way back to tie the set 14-14.
Despite letting the Hurricanes catch up, Pitt never let Miami lead. The Panthers remained out in front the remainder of the match and pulled away in the final points thanks to back-to-back kills by Markovic. Lund put the match away for Pitt on a final kill.
Up Next
The Panthers remain home at the Fitzgerald Field house as they square off with Florida State Nov. 5 at 1 p.m. for the second time this season.
Press Release:
Courtesy of Miami Athletics
CORAL GABLES, Fla. – The University of Miami volleyball team won its 10th straight set, but ultimately fell 3-1 to a strong Pittsburgh team at the Fitzgerald Field House on Friday night.
The Hurricanes (15-5, 9-5 ACC) enjoyed a bright start at one of the most unhospitable venues in the conference, but the Panthers (18-6, 11-2 ACC) limited Miami to .092 combined hitting in the last three sets to solidify their place at the top of the conference standings with a 22-25, 25-16, 25-11, 25-20 victory.
Junior outside hitter Kolby Bird led Miami on the night with 18 kills, while senior outside hitter Olga Strantzali registered 12. Strantzali, who entered the match as the VolleyMob National Player of the Week, was one of the two Hurricanes to come out of the defeat with a double-double after contributing 14 digs on the defensive end. The other was redshirt junior setter Haley Templeton, who finished with 42 assists and 12 digs. This was Templeton’s 10th double-double in 2017.
Senior libero Sylvia Hernandez paced the team defensively with 15 out of the Canes’ 52 digs. Her counterpart Angela Seman had match-high 19 for Pitt. Kayla Lund led the Panthers with the same number offensively, joined in double digits by Nika Markovic (15) and Stephanie Williams (11).
Miami came out with high confidence and took the opening set, 25-22. The Hurricanes led by as many as six, but had to withstand a fierce Panthers rally late on. Calling a timeout with a frail one-point lead, the Canes came out composed and closed the set with kill by Bird, followed by an error from Pitt’s Layne Van Buskirk. Miami hit .417 as a team in set one, committing only two errors in the frame.
Pitt started the second set by winning four straight points, setting the tone for what was to come. Strantzali’s back-to-back service aces cut it to one at 4-3, but that was the closest Miami came to the Panthers before Pitt won the set 25-16. Pittsburgh’s lead peaked at 12 before the Canes managed to end the set one a 5-2 run. Bird contributed four of Miami’s modest seven kills in the set.
Despite already leading by double digits at 16-6, when Miami took its second and final timeout, Pitt did not let up and won seven of the final 10 points of the set to close it with a resounding 25-11 scoreline. This tied for the fewest points Miami has scored in a 25-point set this season. The only other team to limit the Canes to 11 points was Notre Dame in the Hurricanes’ 3-1 road victory on Sept. 29. That win was ninth straight for Miami to start the season.
A 6-2 Miami run allowed the Canes to tie the fourth set at 15 all on a kill by redshirt freshman outside hitter Elizaveta Lukianova, but Markovic quickly regained the Panthers’ momentum with a kill and an ace for 17-15. The Slovenia native later had back-to-back kills that increased her team’s lead to five before Pitt closed the set and match at 25-20.
Miami is off for the rest of the week and will continue its ACC schedule next Thursday, when it welcomes Boston College to the James L. Knight Sports Complex. First serve in Coral Gables is scheduled for 7 p.m.
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