No. 1 Pitt Volleyball Sweeps Duke

PITTSBURGH -- No. 1 Pitt Panthers volleyball continued their winning streak, as they swept Duke in front of a sold out crowd at Fitzgerald Field House.

The Panthers (23-1 overall, 13-1 ACC) win their eight straight game against the Blue Devils (9-16 overall, 5-9 ACC) since November 2018. It also improves their record in the all-time series to 16-8, 10-5 since joining the ACC in 2013 and 5-4 at home.

This makes it eight straight wins for Pitt, as they swept both Cal on Oct. 18 and No. 5 Stanford on Oct. 20, defeated No. 4 Louisville in four sets on Oct. 25 and Notre Dame in five sets on Oct. 27, two weeks ago, swept both Virginia on Nov. 1. and Virginia Tech on Nov. 3 on the road and also swept No. 25 North Carolina at home on Nov. 8.

The Panthers dominated in the first set, taking a 7-1 lead and increasing it to 14-5, burning both Blue Devils' timeouts, and taking it 25-10.

Sophomore outside hitter Torrey Stafford led with five kills on six swings for a .833 hitting percentage. Redshirt junior middle blocker Bre Kelley led with four blocks and Pitt outhit Duke, .429 to -0.065 in the first set.

Duke kept it close initially in the second set at 7-7, but Pitt would go on a 7-0 run to take a 14-7 lead and finished it off with an 8-0 run to win it, 25-11.

The Panthers greatly outhit the Blue Devils, once again, in the second set, .400 to -0.114, as the Blue Devils had seven kills to 10 attack errors. Stafford also excelled, with five kills in the period to lead the Panthers.

Pitt took a 15-6 lead at the media timeout, as Stafford had three kills and a block and sixth year outside hitter Valeria Vazquez Gomez added three kills as well.

Duke tried to cut into the lead, but were unsuccessful, as Pitt would win the third set, 25-13, and take the match.

Pitt will face another talented team at Fitzgerald Field House next weekend in No. 24 Florida State on Nov. 15, with start set for 5:00 p.m.