This Pitt volleyball team is special.
Were you able to watch, follow along with, or hear about the dominance the Panthers displayed this weekend?
Pitt not only just advanced to the NCAA Sweet 16 round; it absolutely annihilated its way through the two opponents which set foot into the Petersen Events Center on Friday and Saturday.
If all indications hold true, this Panthers team could be hoisting a national championship trophy come December 17.
It started on Friday with a straight-sets sweep over Colgate, 25-16, 25-14, 25-14 over the Patriot League champions.
Then, in rematch from the regular season against seventh-seeded and No. 26-ranked BYU, the second-seeded Panthers kicked things into high gear in the second set and swept the Cougars, 25-21 25-22 25-18, on Saturday.
But, it was not just about winning these games; it was about the fashion in which the two matches transpired.
Pitt is a deep, aggressive, sound, and well-coached volleyball team which does not just have one player that can beat any given team. The collective unit up front has tremendous length, the setters judge each opposing shot with precision, the serving specialists are crisp in their roles, and the role players are perfect complements to all of these spots.
"I would say we're clicking at the right time, and things are going really well," right-side hitter Courtney Buzzerio said after Saturday's win. "Our defensive effort, I thought, was much improved from last night from the start. I think we started off, right off the bat, asserting that, so that just makes our offensive (effort) much easier. We're out-digging them, and the ball's up in the air, so we have opportunities to swing constantly. And, so, yeah, we're putting ourselves in really good positions with the way we're practicing, the way we're preparing, taking our off-time today with watching film and everything, and getting up for these games."
Take Valeria Vazquez Gomez as an example of that. For a player which is not the primary objective for opposing defenses, she still led the Panthers in scoring against Colgate with 13 kills. She then turned around the next night, literally, and went into the back line to pace the Panthers in digs with 14 against BYU.
Talk about leading by example. Captain Ashley Browske told us before the tournament tipped off that Vazquez Gomez was vocal in motivating the team after finding out they earned a No. 2-seed, and not a No. 1, as the NCAA's RPI rankings might have suggested.
No matter how modest she wanted to put it, when I asked her on Friday about that rallying cry:
"I think my mentality and our girls' mentality is, it doesn't matter if you were No. 1, No. 2, No. 6, it's going to be a hard path to win the national championship," Vazquez Gomez said. "Playing good teams (are) going to prepare us, compared to other teams that are playing not as a tough schedule as we are, so it doesn't matter what ranking we are."
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Valeria Vazquez Gomez during Friday's NCAA Tournament opener against Colgate.
Consider Rachel Fairbanks, who followed up her 23 assists against the Raiders with an all-time performance against the Cougars on Saturday. Her triple-double of 10 kills, 28 assists, and 13 digs was not just her second such line of the season. It was the first triple-double ever recorded by a Panther in an NCAA Tournament match.
"I feel like we're preparing well for these games. Shout out to the coaching staff," Fairbanks said. "When I was on on the court setting, it's just easy to set good hitters, and we have good options all around."
Then there is Buzzerio, the driving force of the Panthers' offense, whose 23 kills on Saturday set a program record for kills in an NCAA Tournament match. Mind you, she did this in three sets.
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Pitt's Courtney Buzzerio goes for a spike on Saturday against BYU.
On the defensive end, it has been about Chiamaka Nwokolo and Serena Gray causing havoc. With those two leading the way in front of the net, Colgate and BYU combined for a .187 hit percentage, and the Panthers forced a combined 25 errors in the two games.
Nwokolo and Gray, by the way, were extremely efficient on the offensive end when their numbers were called. Nwokolo combined for 13 kills on a .619 hit percentage, while Gray turned in some unreal-looking kills over the top of the net in registering identical 6-for-11 offensive lines (.545 combined hit percentage) in the two games.
Along with Fairbanks in the back line is Lexis Akeo, who posted 14 and 15 assists off the bench over the weekend. Add in libero Emmy Klika, who dug up a team-high 12 balls against Colgate.
"This is the best setting team I think we've ever had," Fisher said on Friday. "Cam (Ennis is) a very good setter, Courtney set for two years at Iowa, and so we feel like that's a strength of this team, and right now, we feel like, also, our setters are peaking at the right time."
Including Ennis, those are just eight of the players in the rotations which Fisher has deployed, consisting of at least 10 players in each game this weekend.
"I think that's the really cool part about our team, is that we're able to have so many different people in different positions and confident that they're able to execute at a high level," Fairbanks said, "with Cam coming in, playing outside, where she's set the last time we played BYU. I think having the middles being able to control small balls -- that's why we practice that every day -- and so we practice these things that we're able to become all-around good volleyball players, not just singular focused. That's definitely (Fisher's) coaching and his system, so it's just, kind of, at this point in the season, we're all bought into that, and ready to step into wherever needed to be."
I had to go back to what Colgate coach Ryan Baker said after Friday's match. He had as high of a praise for Fisher and the Pitt program that I think you possibly could hear:
"It's one of the programs that we study," Baker said. "Dan Fisher, his staff, and his players are probably one of the best programs in the country. I've been in the game quite a long time, and to watch what they've done since he's come, it's something. These guys know. We show film of Pitt. To get a firsthand experience of it and watching Serena Gray up close was different. She's pretty special, and their whole team is."
Those words came from his opening statement in his post-match press conference. I had to follow up and ask Baker why he feels that way about Pitt's program.
"Dan has developed a men's-style game here," he said. "That's what we talk about. They go for it. They're not afraid to get blocked. They put big swings on 85% to 90% of their balls, and it's a very unique system. You don't see that kind of style, and, so, we talk a lot about in our gym, and I think we did a really good job for what we could. We talk about going for it, and being OK getting blocked, and covering, and that's what Dan's created here. It's an exciting style of volleyball that people talk about all over the country. We try to simulate it, and I think we did really well in the Patriot League with it."
That is an honest, refreshing, and stunning amount of respect coming from Baker right after the match.
Undoubtedly so, playing at the Petersen Events Center provided a jolt to the Panthers this weekend. A combined 5,481 fans packed The Pete between Friday and Saturday, including an announced 2,814 to show support on Saturday.
"Over the past couple years they've been very helpful, and we feel them," Vazquez Gomez said. "They help our vibe, too. We thank them, and we love our crowd."
That home-floor advantage will not be there in its fullest force next weekend. Pitt travels to Madison, Wisc., for a Sweet 16 showdown, in the regional semifinal, with No 3-seed Florida on Thursday.
Fisher has quite a bit of familiarity with the Gators. Outside hitter Marina Markova is a transfer from ACC rival Syracuse, and three Gators were on the U.S. Women's Junior National Training Team which Fisher recently coached: Middle blocker Bre Kelley, outside hitter Merritt Beason, and setter Alexis Stucky.
"They're very, very talented; they're very physical," Fisher said of Florida. "There's a reason they beat (top-seeded) Wisconsin at the start of the year. They are very capable, and I'm sure it'll be a great game."
