ACC co-champions Pitt (31-3) and Louisville (30-2) will meet Thursday for the right to make conference history. Together, the programs etched their names in the record books last season when they became the first ACC programs to reach the national semifinals in the same season.
This time, one of them will become the first ACC team to play in the last match of the NCAA women’s Division I volleyball season.
“In conference, we went 1-1 with Louisville,” said Pitt sophomore setter/hitter Rachel Fairbanks, “and we’re co-champions, so I guess this game will determine it all.”
Under 10th-year coach Dan Fisher, the Panthers have continued their steady ascent in the national ranks. Saturday’s victory over defending national-champion Wisconsin in the regional final was Pitt’s 140th since the start of the 2018 season, most among Division I teams. It was the Panthers’ fifth victory over a top-10 team this season, the most not just in program history but in the history of all Pitt sports.
This season also represents the third consecutive in which the Panthers have reached at least the regional final.
Along the way, the Panthers have developed what Fisher calls a “friendly” rivalry with Louisville.
“Especially since (coach Dani Busboom Kelly) has been there,” Fisher said. “Over the last four years, I think we really have made each other better. There’s been years we had their number and years they had ours.
“I think we’ve been looking at each other as, that’s the team we’ve got to be better than. And it turns out that standard is still a pretty good one.”
Of course, having that rivalry means the programs know each other well. The strategies and tendencies of each hold few surprises for the other.
Fisher said that familiarity doesn’t create a temptation to reinvent the wheel and try to do something out of character. He said it does, however, present intellectual challenges to him and his coaching staff.
“You’re always trying to keep your opponent uncomfortable,” he said. “What can we do that we maybe haven’t done? Or, can we look at the game in maybe a slightly different way to make them uncomfortable?”
Fisher never has been afraid to do something different throughout his time at Pitt. Not even when the stakes are at their highest.
Take the regional final against Wisconsin. Grad transfer Cam Ennis had spent her season as the Panthers’ third setter — she averages 2.44 assists per set — but against the…
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