Pitt is headed back to the Sweet Sixteen

The No. 1 overall seed Panthers knocked off No. 8 seed Oklahoma on Saturday night to advance from the second round to the regional finals with a three-set sweep in front of more than 6,000 fans at the Petersen Events Center.

Pitt earned the sweep Saturday night, but the Panthers were pushed by the Sooners in every set. The first set went to 28-26 as Oklahoma refused to go away and actually led 25-24 and 26-25, but kills by Torrey Stafford and Valeria Vazquez Gomez plus a service error on Oklahoma got the Panthers over the finish line.

Pitt won the second set 25-21, but it was another fight. The Sooners minimized the Panthers’ runs - they scored more than two consecutive points just three times in the match - but a kill and an ace by Vazquez Gomez and a match-sealing kill by Olivia Babcock kept the home team on top.

In the third set, Pitt broke out of a 13-13 tie with a 5-0 scoring run and kept Oklahoma at arm’s length for a 25-21 win.

Vazquez Gomez finished the match with 10 kills, her fifth time being in double digits this season. Babcock had a match-high 13 kills and setter Rachel Fairbanks followed her 33 assists in Friday’s win over Morehead State with 36 assists on Saturday. Torrey Stafford added 10 kills and a match-high nine digs.

Up next, Pitt will host No. 4 seed Oregon on Thursday at the Petersen Events Center. The Ducks are 24-7 overall and finished fifth in the Big Ten with a 14-6 conference record.

Oregon advanced after sweeping High Point in the first round and defeating No. 5 seed TCU 3-1 in the second round. They are led by outside hitter Mimi Colyer and middle blocker Onye Ofoegbu, who were both first-team All-Big Ten selections. Colyer was top-ten in the conference in kills and Ofoegbu was top-five in blocks, while setter Cristin Cline was top-10 in assists.

Thursday’s match will be the fourth meeting all-time between Pitt and Oregon, with the Panthers holding a 2-1 advantage in the series. Pitt and Oregon most recently faced off last September when the No. 7 Ducks came to Pittsburgh and defeated the No. 8 Panthers 3-2.

Pitt has not lost at home since that match; the Panthers have won 33 in a row at home since that loss.

The other matchups in the series were in 2019, when No. 6 Pitt defeated No 10 Oregon in Pittsburgh, and 1978, when the Panthers defeated the Ducks in the AIAW National Championships tournament.

This marks the fifth consecutive season that Pitt has reached the Sweet Sixteen. In each of the previous four seasons, the Panthers advanced to the regional finals; in the last three, they’ve made it to the Final Four.