PITTSBURGH – The No. 1 University of Pittsburgh volleyball team (9-0, 0-0 ACC) upended Marquette (4-5, 0-0 Big East) in three sets for Pitt’s ninth straight sweep. Rachel Fairbanks set the Panthers to a .398 team hitting percentage, and Olivia Babcock (14), Torrey Stafford (13) and Valeria Vazquez Gomez (10) all recorded double-digit kills.
The Panthers came out of the gate firing, getting out to an early 7-2 run behind five Pitt kills, forcing Marquette to take an early timeout. The five-point lead quickly turned into 10 as the momentum kept rolling in favor of Pitt, and the Golden Eagles called their second and final timeout, down 7-17. Marquette went on a few mini runs, but a kill from four different Panthers and a Marquette service error on set point allowed Pitt to win the first set, 25-18. Vazquez Gomez finished the set with five kills, hitting .714.
The Golden Eagles came out of the break with some energy, and a pair of Marquette kills and Pitt errors forced the Panthers to take a timeout, down 5-6. Pitt sided out at a high clip for the following stretch and saw production from all three pin hitters to cause the Golden Eagles to take their first timeout at 15-11. Once again, Cat Flood proved efficient from the service line and put together three more points to extend Pitt’s lead, 18-11. The Panthers did not allow Marquette to go on a run and won the final points with a kill from Fairbanks and Vazquez Gomez from the hands of Stafford for a 25-18 set two…
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