Pitt volleyball on verge of second consecutive ACC title

Pitt volleyball is currently 26-1 and ranked No. 10 in the country. The Panthers have hopes of fighting for a national championship but, interestingly enough, the more immediate goal of a conference title isn’t even guaranteed yet, even with the regular season nearly over.

While the Panthers have steamrolled the competition, Pitt still has not wrapped up the ACC Conference Championship just yet. Pitt has been winning but the problem is that the Seminoles have been winning, too. Currently, the Panthers are 14-1 in conference, just ahead of Florida State’s 13-2 conference mark. The Seminoles defeated Louisville about a week ago and after defeating Notre Dame on Sunday, are right there with the Panthers.

Still, you’ve got give the Panthers pretty good odds of at least finishing with a share of the ACC title as they had last season. Pitt defeated Florida State earlier in the year, serving as one of their two losses (Miami was the other), and will be favored to defeat the Seminoles again on the road. But even if the Seminoles manage to upset Pitt, they would still have to win both remaining contests, which are on the road at North Carolina and NC State, and also hope the Panthers lose another match, if they want to win the title outright. It’s very hard to see Pitt not winding up as at least Co-Champion.

That, of course, isn’t the goal. Not only does Pitt surely want the title for itself, but you can bet the team doesn’t want to drop another match, either. The Panthers can lock up the title without the ‘co-’ designation by defeating Florida State next weekend and then winning one more of their final two matches against Miami or Georgia Tech.

Also still right there are Louisville and Syracuse, who each have only three conference losses. But realistically, this thing is probably just down to Pitt and Florida State. Pitt could conceivably lose another match but are not likely to lose two more to allow Louisville and Syracuse back in the mix. The competition isn’t exactly easy with the match against Florida State and then a road trip to 13-10 Miami before a home match with 16-12 Georgia Tech. But it just isn’t easy to see Pitt losing two of those contests.

As a result, that Pitt-Florida State matchup next weekend will go a long way to determining the conference title.

Be sure to join Cardiac Hill’s Facebook page and follow us on Twitter @PittPantherBlog for our regular updates on Pitt athletics. Follow the author and founder/editor @AnsonWhaley.