Pitt defense shines in Syracuse sweep
No. 3 Pitt volleyball’s defense came through in a sweep of Syracuse on Friday night, holding the Orange to a .121 hitting percentage.
Friday’s match stood out on the schedule as “Daniel Strong Night.” The theme spotlighted Daniel George, son of Pitt volleyball strength and conditioning coach Mary Beth George.
Daniel, born with chronic kidney disease, needs a kidney transplant. His family has partnered with the Children’s Organ Transplant Association for fundraising assistance, and the “Daniel Strong Night” aimed to raise money for his fight. The team also advertised a full-day promotion from Panera and Chipotle that gave some proceeds from orders to COTA.
Fans can make donations for Daniel’s cause by visiting COTAForDanielStrong.com. The campaign has raised just over $55,000 of its $75,000 goal, as of late Friday night.
Daniel’s story outweighed any performance on the court tonight, but he did help Pitt out as an honorary team captain. The Panthers made sure not to disappoint their special supporter, playing one of their most complete matches of the season.
It didn’t look like the win would come so easy at first glance. Syracuse boasted two of the ACC’s top five leaders in kills per set, Marina Markova and Polina Shemanova, and the pair didn’t need much of a warm-up. Markova and Shemanova combined for nine kills in the first game, cutting up the Panther defense in a variety of ways.
An attack error by Pitt’s Serena Gray gave the Orange a 22-21 lead late in the first set, but the Penn State transfer made up for her mistake moments later with back-to-back service aces. Two-time ACC Player of the Year Kayla Lund reasserted her dominance with a set-ending kill, lifting Pitt to a tight first game win 25-23.
Captain Daniel must have told the team something significant after that first set, because the Panthers looked like a completely different squad the rest of the night. They jumped out to a 6-1 lead in the second game, easily running away with it 25-15.
The key for the Panthers’ surge: defense. Markova and Shemanova got their numbers, combining for 10 of the Orange’s 11 kills in the second game, but the Panthers vehemently stifled the rest of the Syracuse front. The Orange’s eight attack errors in the set allowed Pitt to take a 2-0 lead in the match.
With the outcome leaning heavily in his team’s favor, Pitt head coach Dan Fisher opted once again to give bench players reps in the final frame. 6-foot-5 middle blocker Anastasia Russ made the best impression from these opportunities.
Russ entered the match with Pitt holding a 21-9 lead in the third game, just four points away from a potential victory. The redshirt sophomore recorded three kills in that short time, finishing the sweep with a 25-13 edge in the third game.
The win improved Pitt to 21-2 on the season, 11-2 in the ACC. The Panthers finish their four-match home stretch against Boston College on Sunday, before heading to the nation’s capital for a showdown with American.