Five Panthers Named AVCA All-Americans

TAMPA, FL – Five Panthers were named All-Americans, announced on Wednesday by the AVCA. Rachel Fairbanks and Olivia Babcock found themselves on the First Team while Torrey Stafford notched Third Team honors. Emma Monks and Emmy Klika were named to the Honorable Mention list. Babcock was also recognized as the AVCA National Freshman of the Year, the first Panther in program history to garner the award.

Fairbanks was named a First Team All-American for the first time in her career after earning Third Team honors in 2022. She was also named ACC Setter of the Year, AVCA East Coast Region Player of the Year and a First Team All-ACC awardee for the first time in her career. Fairbanks notched four ACC Setter of the Week honors, a career-high, and is setting Pitt to an impressive. 308 hitting percentage, good for third in the nation. 

Babcock has been instrumental in her rookie season, being named the program’s first ACC Freshman of the Year, First Team All-ACC, AVCA East Coast Region Freshman of the Year and AVCA East Coast Region Team. She is second in program history for most ACC Freshman of the Week honors with five and earned AVCA National Player of the Week honors after registering 15 kills on 23 swings with zero errors in the sweep against then No. 8 Georgia Tech. She hit .652, a career-high recording 10 or more kills. 

Stafford has impressed as a freshman, being utilized as a six-rotation player all season long. She is second on the team with 416 points and 362 kills and third with 196 digs. Stafford is an All-ACC First-Team performer and All-ACC Freshman Team awardee. She has notched three ACC Freshman of the Week honors and an ACC Offensive Player of the Week award.

Monks has immediately contributed in her fifth year and first as a Panther. She earned her first conference award with Second Team All-ACC honors and was named a member of the AVCA East Coast Region Team. She is currently fourth in the nation with 1.57 blocks per set and is 16th nationally in hitting percentage (.403). Monks holds the all-time single season blocks record with 165, passing the previous record of 152 against Washington State.

Junior libero Emmy Klika has been a constant presence at the libero position all year. Her 3.10 digs per set is a career-high while being…