VOLLEYBALL WEEKEND PREVIEW, 9/1/2023: Pitt, Kentucky Tangle in Non-Conference Battle of Titans
LEXINGTON, Ken. – While Nebraska was busy setting a collegiate volleyball attendance record earlier this week by playing host to a match against in-state foe Omaha inside historical Memorial Stadium on the campus of the University of Nebraska, two other collegiate powers are set to take on one another in a pair of matches between ranked foes.
Pittsburgh, ranked No. 10 in the latest American Volleyball Coaches Association poll, will face No. 12 Kentucky in a pair of matches this weekend. The two teams will take to the court Sept. 1 inside Rupp Arena in Lexington (TV: ESPN/SEC Network) before meeting again two days later in the Steel City (TV: ESPN/ACC Network).
Wisconsin is the nation’s top-ranked team in the latest AVCA poll while Stanford is No. 2. Louisville, Nebraska and Minnesota round out the top five teams.
Defending national champion Texas, which lost to Long Beach State to open the season, fell from No. 1 to No. 7. The Longhorns defeated Minnesota 3-1 earlier this week in Minneapolis.
Pittsburgh, which has appeared in each of the past two Final Fours, is coached by Dan Fisher, who is in his 11th season at the helm of the Panthers.
Pittsburgh has amassed a 140-17 (.892) record over the past five seasons under Fisher, who is now 260-63 (.805) during his tenure at the school. He has guided the Panthers to the NCAA tournament seven times while at the school.
Kentucky, under the leadership of Craig Skinner, who is in his 19th season at the helm of the Wildcats. He owns a record of 425-140 (.752) during his time at Kentucky, including the 2-1 record so far this season heading into Friday’s match against Pittsburgh.
His teams have reached the NCAA tournament for 18 consecutive years – a feat only nine other schools in the nation have achieved.
That impressive run includes eight Sweet Sixteen appearances since 2009 and two Elite Eight appearances. Skinner’s 2020 team finished the season with a 24-1 overall record and securing the SEC title for a fourth consecutive season. The Wildcats capped the season with the national championship with a win over Texas in Omaha, Neb. as Kentucky became the first SEC school to win a national championship in volleyball.
Skinner, the national coach of the year in that championship season, has guided his teams to at least 20 wins in 14 of the past 16 seasons.
ABOUT THE 2023 WILDCATS
Kentucky, like this weekend’s opponent, Pittsburgh, opened the season with a loss as Colorado State came away with a 3-1 triumph over the Wildcats in front of nearly 8,000 fans inside CSU’s Moby Arena.
The Rams won the match 29-27, 25-19, 20-25, 25-18.
Kentucky rebounded by knocking off Northern Colorado 3-1 (25-22, 25-14, 22-25, 25-14) to close its quick trip to the Rocky Mountains.
The Wildcats are being led by several standout players in the early portion of the season, including Emma Grome (5-9, Jr., S), the reigning Southeastern Conference player of the year, who totaled 93 assists (11.63 aps) in the two matches in Big Sky Country. She also posted a pair of kills and two aces on the final night of the weekend against the Bears.
Grome was not alone in registering impressive weekends. Teammates Reagan Rutherford (6-0, Sr., OH) and Erin Lamb (6-3, Jr., OH) had big matches at the net for the Wildcats. Rutherford came away with 31 kills (3.88 kps) on the weekend, while Lamb chipped in with 21 kills (2.63 kps) of her own in the two matches.
Brooklyn DeLeye (6-2, Fr., OH) and Azhani Teater (6-3, Jr., OH) chipped in with 19 (2.71 kps) and 17 (2.13 kps) kills, respectively, in the two matches. DeLeye picked up 13 of her kills in the win over UNC.
Kentucky Wildcats (1-1 Overall)
L-at Colorado State 3-1
W-at Northern Colorado 3-1
Sept. 1 PITTSBURGH
Sept. 3 at Pittsburgh
Sept. 8 vs. Houston
at West Lafayette, Ind.
Sept. 9 SMU or Purdue
at West Lafayette, Ind.
Sept. 13 at Louisville
Sept. 17 at Nebraska
Sept. 22 LSU
Sept. 24 TENNESSEE
Sept. 29 at Georgia
Oct. 1 at Alabama
Oct. 6 at Missouri
Oct. 8 OLE MISS
Oct. 15 at Tennessee
Oct. 20 MISSISSIPPI STATE
Oct. 22 ARKANSAS
Oct. 27 at LSU
Nov. 3 at South Carolina
Nov. 5 at Florida
Nov. 8 at Auburn
Nov. 12 GEORGIA
Nov. 16 TEXAS A&M
Nov. 19 MISSOURI
Nov. 22 at Arkansas
Nov. 25 FLORIDA
ABOUT THE 2023 PANTHERS
Pitt opened the 2023 season with a 2-1 finish at the Ellesyn Invitational at the University of Montana. The Panthers dropped the opening match of the season to BYU 3-1 (25-23, 20-25, 19-25, 16-25). The loss snapped a modest two-match winning streak against the Cougars.
Pitt righted the ship and swept past host Montana (25-12, 25-11, 25-16) and UTRGV (25-19, 25-18, 25-16) to wrap up the tournament.
Rachel Fairbanks (6-0, Jr., S/RS) is the undeniable leader of the Panthers after coming off a 2022 season that saw her earn third-team All-American accolades. She finished the season-opening tournament with 67 assists and four service aces to pace the Panthers in both categories.
The presence of the veteran Fairbanks in the Pittsburgh lineup is certainly going to be useful as she establishes herself as a stabilizing presence to an otherwise youthful Panther lineup.
But if that inexperienced collection of players continues to play the way they showed in the Rocky Mountains, the Panthers will be just fine, thank you.
Torrey Stafford (6-2, Fr., OH) and Olivia Babcock (6-5, Fr., RS) both tallied 22 kills in the three matches in Montana, while teammates Rachel Jepsen (6-4, So., MB) and Blaire Bayless (6-2, Fr., OH) chipped in with 11 and 10 kills, respectively, over the three matches.
Jepsen tallied a career-high seven kills in the sweep over the Grizzlies in a match that also saw Stafford, Babcock and Bayless combined for 20 of Pitt’s 43 kills in the match. Stafford also tallied a team-high 10 kills in the win over UTRGV.
Pittsburgh Panthers (2-1 Overall)
Ellesyn Invitational at Missoula, Mont.
L-vs. BYU 3-1
W-at Montana 3-0
W-vs. UTRGV 3-0
Sept. 1 at Kentucky
Sept. 3 KENTUCKY
Sept. 8 at Marquette
Sept. 10 at Loyola (Ill.)
Sept. 14 OREGON
Sept. 16 JAMES MADISON
Sept. 17 HIGH POINT
Sept. 20 UMBC
Sept. 22 at Duke
Sept. 24 at North Carolina
Sept. 29 BOSTON COLLEGE
Oct. 1 SYRACUSE
Oct. 6 GEORGIA TECH
Oct. 8 CLEMSON
Oct. 13 at Louisville
Oct. 15 at Notre Dame
Oct. 18 VIRGINIA
Oct. 20 at N.C. State
Oct. 27 VIRGINIA TECH
Oct. 29 WAKE FOREST
Nov. 3 at Florida State
Nov. 5 at Miami
Nov. 10 at Georgia Tech
Nov. 18 LOUISVILLE
Nov. 22 MIAMI
Nov. 25 at Syracuse
UP NEXT FOR BOTH TEAMS
Kentucky will take part in a tournament Sept. 8-9 in West Lafayette, Ind. The Wildcats will face Houston in their first match in the tournament and will face either SMU or Purdue on the final day. Road matches at Louisville (Sept. 13) and Nebraska (Sept. 17) will close out the non-conference portion of the schedule for Kentucky.
The Wildcats open SEC play on Sept. 22 when they play host to LSU before entertaining Tennessee two days later.
Pittsburgh, meanwhile, travels to Marquette (Sept. 8) and will tangle with Loyola Sept. 10 in Chicago before returning home for three matches. The Panthers open ACC play Sept. 22 at Duke and will be at North Carolina on Sept. 24. They open the home portion of the conference schedule on Sept. 29 when they play host to Boston College.
A native of Bismarck, N.D., Ray is a graduate of North Dakota State University where he began studying athletic training and served as a student trainer for several Bison teams including swimming, wrestling and baseball and was a trainer at the 1979 NCAA national track and field championship meet at the University of Illinois. Ray later worked in the sports information office at NDSU. Following his graduation from NDSU he spent five years in the sports information office at Missouri Western State University and one year in the sports information at Georgia Tech. He has nearly 40 years of writing experience as a sports editor at several newspapers and has received numerous awards for his writing over the years. A noted sports historian, Ray is currently an assistant editor at Amateur Wrestling News.
