The Pitt women’s volleyball team finally dropped a set. That happened Oct. 4, when the top-ranked Panthers, who won their first 12 matches of the year via 3-0 sweeps, lost the opener at Boston College.
The unbeaten streak, however, remains intact. The Panthers (15-0, 5-0 ACC) took care of 15th-ranked ACC newcomer SMU, 25-17, 25-18 and 25-9 on Wednesday night at Fitzgerald Field House.
The Mustangs (12-4, 4-1) are the fifth ranked team Pitt has defeated this fall.
Now the Panthers turn around and head for Dallas to visit the Mustangs on Saturday afternoon. After that, Pitt will return home for four consecutive matches, and two of them are huge: Stanford, ranked No. 5 in the latest American Volleyball Coaches Association poll, owner of a Division I-best nine national titles and another ACC newbie, on Sunday, Oct. 20; and ACC rival Louisville (No. 4) on Friday, Oct. 25.
As for Wednesday’s win over SMU, Pitt got off to a slow start in the first set, trailing 7-5. But a 9-1 run put the Panthers in control, and they (mostly) cruised to a 25-17 victory.
SMU kept the second set close, even pulling ahead 12-11 midway through. Sophomore right side Olivia Babcock kept swinging — she had 12 kills in the set — and kept Pitt in it early until the rest of her teammates found their footing.
A 9-0 run behind the serving of Valeria Vazquez Gomez put Pitt ahead 20-12. SMU put together a mini rally, but the Panthers held on for a 25-18 victory.
The third set looked a lot like the first two. SMU got out of the gate early, leading 4-2, but an 8-0 run by Pitt, keyed by four Babcock aces, sent the Panthers on their way.
Babcock led the way with 18 kills, and Torrey Stafford added 13.