CHARLOTTE, N.C. (theACC.com) – No. 1 seed Pitt Volleyball will make its third-straight Final Four appearance in the 2023 NCAA Tournament on Thursday, Dec. 14. The Panthers are set to take on overall No. 1 seed Nebraska (32-1) at 7 p.m. on ESPN Thursday night in Tampa, Florida, at the Amalie Arena.
Thursday’s match will mark the third-straight year an Atlantic Coast Conference team will be in the NCAA Semifinal match.
Pitt is the only program to advance to the last three National Semifinals and will seek its first-ever win over Nebraska in a rematch of the 2021 National Semifinals, where the Huskers won, 3-1. The Panthers will look to secure a spot in the title match for the first time in program history and just the second title match appearance for an ACC program.
Top-seeded Pitt defeated conference rival and No. 2 seed Louisville, 3-2, in the Regional Finals with a reverse sweep for the second time this season. The Cards took the first two sets before the Panthers were fueled by the home crowd in Fitzgerald Field House to win the final three sets. Freshmen Olivia Babcock and Torrey Stafford led Pitt, combining for 34 kills, 19 digs, seven blocks and three aces. Emma Monks tied Pitt’s program record for most block assists in an NCAA Tournament match with eight, while Rachel Fairbanks tallied 48 assists – the second most in Pitt history in an NCAA Tournament match.
Anna DeBeer and Phekran PK Kong led Louisville with 13 kills apiece, while Kong added eight blocks. Elle Glock had 39 assists for the Cards in a rematch of the 2022 National Semifinals.
The Regional All-Tournament team featured Babcock, Fairbanks, Monks and Stafford from Pitt along with Debeer, Kong, Cara Cresse and Elena Scott from Louisville.
NCAA Championship
Thursday, Dec. 14 (National Semifinals)
No. 1 Pitt (29-4) vs. No. 1 Nebraska (32-1) | 7 p.m. | ESPN
Noting ACC Volleyball
- The ACC leads the nation in kills (20,856) and service aces (2,507), and is second in assists (19,237) and block assists (5,812).
- Pitt owns the third-best hitting percentage in the country at .308 and has the third-most block assists (601).
- The Panthers are averaging 2.97 blocks per set, the second-best in the nation behind another No. 1 seed in Wisconsin (3.09). They have limited their opponents to a .138 hitting percentage, also the second-best in the…
Click Here to Read the Full Original Article at Atlantic Coast Conference…