Olivia Babcock Makes Pitt Volleyball History

PITTSBURGH — Pitt Panthers volleyball junior right side hitter Olivia Babcock has served as one of the best players in the country these three seasons and her latest performance was the best she's put up in college.

Olivia Babcock Sets New Pitt Volleyball Record

Babcock led No. 4 Pitt to a five-set win over rival No. 6 Louisville on the road on Oct. 19, coming back from down two sets to one and improving to 15-3 on the season and 7-1 in the ACC.

She finished with a career-high 41 kills on 78 attacks, hitting .423, plus adding two service aces, eight digs, tying for the team lead with five block and leading with 46.5 points.

Those 41 kills are a new Pitt record, breaking the previous record of Ann Marie Lucanie (1990-93), who had 37 kills in a five-set defeat to Auburn on Sept. 13, 1991 at the Indiana State Invitational.

Babcock also has the most kills this season in Division I and is one of just four players since 2019 with 40 kills or more in a match.

She finished with 13 kills in the fourth set and six kills in the fifth set for 19 kills and a .571 hitting percentage, playing a massive role in the comeback over Louisvile.

"I feel like I say this answer every time, but my team trusted me to take big rips," Babcock said to ESPN postgame. "They gave me the amount of opportunities to do so. So I feel like, just trusting that my team is going to give me the ball and trusting that they're going to cover it, honestly, I was swinging at everything and whatever happens from there was whatever, but I was just swinging and they gave me that trust."

Her 78 swings are also the third most in match in Panthers history, tied with Stacy Renik (1997-2000), who also had 78 attacks in a five-set loss to Arkansas at home on Sept. 8, 2000.

Babcock previously had two of her games in the top 10 for most kills, both coming in the 2024 NCAA Tournament. She finished with 31 kills in a five-set win over Oregon in the Sweet 16 at the Petersen Events Center and then made 33 kills in a four-set loss to Louisville in the Final Four at the KFC Yum! Center.