Pitt Dominates, Sweeps No. 8 Georgia Tech

ATLANTA, GA –The No. 7 University of Pittsburgh volleyball team (22-4, 13-2 ACC) comes out on top against No. 8 Georgia Tech (21-4, 12-3 ACC) at the O’Keefe Gym on Friday night. Olivia Babcock recorded a match-high 15 kills on a career-high .652 hitting percentage.

Pitt came out firing at the beginning of set one, getting up to a 7-0 lead and forced a Georgia Tech timeout. Valeria Vazquez Gomez was lethal behind the service line and continued her dominance, going on a 10-0 run until the Yellow Jackets registered their first kill of the set. Shortly after, Georgia Tech’s Bianca Bertolino came to life offensively, forcing Pitt to take its first timeout, up 12-7. An 8-4 run behind a kill from Babcock, Chiamaka Nwokolo, Emma Monks and Vazquez Gomez forced Georgia Tech to take its final timeout as the Panthers led 20-11. Vazquez Gomez continued to string points together behind her serve and allowed Pitt to take the first set, 25-13 as the Panthers never trailed.

Georgia Tech began set two a bit quicker as both teams were tied early, 4-4. Babcock’s serve gave the Yellow Jackets problems as she notched back-to-back aces and caused a Georgia Tech service error to go up 8-4. Neither team called a timeout early as Pitt went up 15-8 at the media timeout. Another Yellow Jacket attack error forced Georgia Tech to take a timeout, down 8-16. Pitt continued to put the pressure on, disabling the Yellow Jackets from going on any runs and eventually secured the set two victory, 25-14. Babcock had six kills on a .667…