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The No. 4 Pitt volleyball team didn’t have an incredibly easy time on Friday but they still played well enough to earn a sweep over conference foe Miami, winning 3-0 on the road. Pitt is now 3-0 in conference and has yet to drop a set to an ACC team.
Pitt (14-1) had all they could handle from Miami (6-5) in the first two sets. The first one was a back and forth affair with Pitt needing extra points to win, 26-24. They had an easier time in the second, up 24-19 towards the end but Miami reeled off four straight points, largely due to a strong server that Pitt had difficulty with. But with the Panthers up 24-23, they grabbed the final point to close that set, 25-23.
The Hurricanes faded a bit in the third set, understandably, after losing two close ones. Pitt took that one, 25-17, to complete the sweep.
I don’t have final hitting totals yet but Kayla Lund, Stephanie Williams, and Chinaza Ndee all seemed to have big nights. The team has a whole really hit pretty well. The team struggled a little, playing quite a bit out of system but mostly looked pretty good.
Miami was a very sound team. Sometimes when Pitt gets in these tight battles it’s because they aren’t playing particularly well. That wasn’t the case tonight. In the first set, for example, they hit over .450, which is unreal. As a point of comparison, Miami was over .300, which is considered to be very good.
The Hurricanes may not play this well every time out but they are a very strong team in my book. Their effort tonight would have probably beaten a lot of teams. They did have some moments where they didn’t look good and they fell apart in the third. But I thought they also did a lot right. They don’t have one really effective ‘go to’ hitter like a lot of teams do and that’s what they’re really missing. But they were pretty sound overall and should do well in a pretty average conference.
Next up for Pitt is what could be their toughest remaining match in the regular season — a road contest against No. 23 Florida State on Sunday.
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