No. 7 Pitt Volleyball Sweeps Ohio

DAYTON, Ohio — The Pitt Panthers extend their winning streak to seven matches after sweeping Ohio 3-0 in the final game of the Shriners Children's Showdown at the Net on Saturday afternoon.

Pitt (7-2) started the season 0-2 after a 3-1 loss to No. 1 Nebraska and a 3-2 loss to No. 16 Florida. Since then, the Panthers defeated No. 25 TCU 3-1 and swept No. 7 Arizona State and No. 3 Kentucky.

Pitt is coming off a 3-1 win over Wright State on Friday night. Olivia Babcock led the Panthers with 20 kills. Bre Kelley nearly had a double-double with nine kills and tied her career high of 10 total blocks.

Blaire Bayless recorded the first kill of the match for the Panthers against Ohio. At 4-4, Pitt went on the first run of the match with a Sophia Gregoire and Dalia Virlan block, an attack error and another Bayless kill to make it 7-4.

Ohio worked its way back to make it 8-8, but the Panthers went on another 3-0 run with two more Bobcats errors and Virlan's first-career ace. Pitt maintained the three-score lead until kills by Marina Pezelj and Ryla Jones made it 13-9.

Babcock recorded her first kill of the match and followed it up with a block assist with Jones, to make it a 15-11 lead. Virlan got consecutive kills, and Ohio used a timeout, down 18-14.

The Panthers went on a six-point run with two kills from Gregoire, one from Bayless, two aces from Izzy Masten and a block from Virlan and Pezelj. The Bobcats got one more kill until Gregoire's kill ended the Pitt-dominated first set 25-16.

The second set started close until Pitt pulled away again. Bayless's kill, an attack error and a Bayless and Virlan block made it 6-4. Another Ohio error and a Jones kill later made it a three-point lead and the Panthers extended the lead further to 12-8 after kills from Jones and Gregoire and a bad set by the Bobcats.

Two more blocks, one by Gregoire and Virlan and the other from Bayless, plus a Virlan kill, forced Ohio to call a timeout at 16-10. The Panthers scored four straight with three kills from Gregoire and a block by Virlan and Pezelj to make it 21-12.

Ohio answered with a 3-0 run, but it wasn't enough. Pitt captured the second set 25-15 after a Virlan kill, a Kiana Dinn ace, a Pezelj kill and an Ohio error.

Pitt climbed to an 8-5 lead after two Bobcats errors and kill by Pezelj and Abbey Emch. An Ohio service error, followed by a Virlan ace and kill by Pezelj and Jones, made it a 12-7 game. A block by Jones and Gregoire forced another Ohio timeout.

The Panthers were able to protect the lead with a flurry of kills. Jones, Pezelj, Gregoire and Bayless all scored after the timeout to make it 18-8. Pitt rode out a 25-12 third set victory, with help from a 5-0 run and a Pezelj kill to complete the sweep.

This match was pure domination from Pitt. The smallest margin of victory for the Panthers wasn't very small at nine points. Pitt had 11 more kills, 13 fewer attack errors, three more aces and four fewer service errors.

Gregoire led the Panthers with 10 kills and hit .450. She also had three block assists and two digs. Bayless wasn't too far behind with nine kills and hitting .438.

Masten ended her afternoon with three aces, seven assists and two digs at libero. Virlan led Pitt with 2.5 total blocks. She also added four kills, two aces and hit .333.

The Panthers will head across the commonwealth to face in-state rival No. 12 Penn State at 7 p.m. on Wednesday, Sept. 17, in Rec Hall. The match will air on the Big Ten Network.