No. 12 Pitt Volleyball Prepares for Pittsburgh Invitational

PITTSBURGH – No. 12 Pitt (7-2, 0-0 ACC) continues its early-season homestand with a pair of matches against Power 5 opponents this weekend in the Pittsburgh Invitational. Pitt will take on Tennessee on Friday night before a Sunday afternoon battle against No 5 Ohio State inside Fitzgerald Field House.
 

PITTSBURGH INVITATIONAL SCHEDULE

 
LAST TIME OUT
The Panthers posted a 2-1 record in the Panther Invitational last weekend, collecting 3-0 sweeps over American and Bowling Green before suffering a 3-1 loss to Towson. Courtney Buzzerio led the offense with 31 kills (3.1/set) on .455 hitting throughout the weekend. She made her 1,000^th career kill against American, finishing with 12 kills in that match on a career-best .588 hitting. She finished the weekend making at least 2.00 kills/set in all three matches without ever hitting below .375.
 
The match against American produced several records on the service line. The Panthers made 14 aces (4.67/set) in the sweep, the most aces/set in the Dan Fisher era and the most in a single match since Oct. 26, 2014, when Pitt made 15 aces in four sets against Louisville. Rachel Fairbanks made six aces against AU, tying the record for the most aces in the 25-point rally scoring era (since 2008) while becoming the 17th Panther in program history to record 6+ aces in a match and just the sixth to do so in three sets.
 
PERFECTLY BALANCED AS ALL THINGS SHOULD BE
Pitt owns one of the most balanced offensive attacks in the nation with Valeria Vazquez Gomez, Julianna Dalton and Buzzerio each averaging over 2.50 kills/set. Those three hitters account for 61.4 percent of Pitt’s terminations with Buzzerio’s 94 currently pacing the group. Buzzerio is second on the team, hitting .355. It is the highest hitting percentage of any non-middle blocker in the ACC. She is one of just three players in the Power 5 to be hitting over .350 with at least 90 kills (94 kills, .355 hitting).
 
27% of Pitt’s offense comes from the middle with Serena Gray (59), Chiamaka Nwokolo (28), Sabrina Starks (25) and Rachel Jepsen (7) contributing to that total. The middles have made those 119 combined kills on .332 hitting.
 
That balance has led to a .279 team hitting percentage, good enough for 24th in the…