Facing a top-five opponent for the second consecutive match, the No. 1-ranked Pitt women’s volleyball team had a near-capacity home crowd on the edge of its seats when it was forced to a fifth set.

That’s become commonplace for the Panthers against No. 4 Louisville, as their rivalry has extended beyond the ACC and into the NCAA Final Four.

Pitt knew that it would have to dig deep for a victory, and Valeria Vazquez Gomez did just that in the final set to help the Panthers clinch a riveting 3-2 win Friday night before 11,309 at Petersen Events Center.

Vazquez Gomez scored a kill for the deciding point on an assist by Nisa Buzlutepe to clinch the final set 15-12 despite a call that withstood a Louisville challenge before being ruled in the Panthers’ favor. Pitt won the first (25-21) and third sets (25-17), while Louisville won the second (28-26) and fourth (25-22).

“Louisville seems to always push us to the limit, and tonight was no different. I guess we’re at three five-setters in a row, which is pretty rare in volleyball,” Pitt coach Dan Fisher said. “This is the kind of game we needed. We haven’t been in these nail-biters much this season. We’ll make some adjustments and be better for it. I thought it was a great battle. We know they’ll be ready for us at their place.”

Pitt (18-1, 8-1 ACC) moved into a first-place tie with Louisville (16-3, 8-1) in conference standings. They will meet again on Nov. 27 at Louisville.

The Panthers were coming off a sweep of No. 5 Stanford on Sunday, their first win over the Cardinal and second win over a top-five team this season (they beat No. 3 Penn State on Sept. 18). Pitt’s lone loss came at then-No. 15 SMU (3-2) on Oct. 12. Louisville lost to then-No. 7 Penn State on Sept. 3 and then-No. 5 Nebraska on Sept. 22.

Pitt and Louisville have built an intense rivalry, given that one of the two has won at least a share of the ACC championship the last seven seasons. They tied for the conference title in 2022, and Pitt won the ACC last season. Pitt twice rallied from two-set deficits to beat Louisville last year, including in the NCAA quarterfinals to earn a trip to the Final Four.

Louisville knocked Pitt out of the 2022 NCAA semifinals.

“We always talk about having an underdog mentality,” said Vazquez Gomez, who finished with 10 kills and 11 digs. “Being No. 1 doesn’t matter if we don’t win the national championship.”

This time, the Panthers won the first set. After taking an early 5-1 lead, they maintained a cushion behind big kills by Ryla Jones, Bre Kelley and Olivia Babcock, who put the finishing touch on set point.

Louisville, however, picked up momentum and took a 9-3 lead to start the second set before stretching it to 13-5. Louisville had a 19-13 lead when Torrey Stafford came up with a big kill, then scored on a serve to cut it to 19-15 and prompted Louisville to call a timeout.

Vazquez Gomez came up with a kill, and Louisville’s Anna DeBeer had an error that cut it to 19-7, forcing another timeout by the Cardinals. Pitt came through with big defensive plays, tying it at 20-20 on a block by Kelley, who tied it again with a kill to make it 21-21. The Panthers took their first lead of the set, 24-23, when a call was reversed. But Louisville scored the next two points to tie the match.

In the third set, however, the Panthers took control again. A kill by Vazquez Gomez gave Pitt a 22-16 lead, Kelley followed a kill with a huge block and Vazquez Gomez scored a service ace to clinch the win.

Kelley, a junior middle blocker, set a career high in kills (12) and tied her career best in blocks (10).

“We were able to get Bre more involved and were able to see what a dominant attacker she is,” Fisher said. “I thought Bre had a great offensive night.”

The fourth set was a back-and-forth affair that was tied 10 times. Louisville led 20-17 when Kelley’s hit was ruled out by the line judge. Fisher challenged the call, and it was reversed, making it 20-18. Louisville scored the next two points on kills by Charitie Luper, but Babcock answered with a pair of her own to cut it to 22-20. Stafford had back-to-back kills to cut it to 23-22 but Louisville scored the next two points to force a fifth set.

“It was not our best defensive performance. It’s one of the worst in many ways in the back row — for the first four sets — then we found a way to pick up our scrappiness,” Fisher said. “I thought Valeria’s defense in the fifth set was incredible. That was one of the big differences, that she kept the ball alive when it got past her block.”

Despite their comparative youth to a veteran Louisville team, the Panthers pointed to their preparation and camaraderie as being the differences in deciding the outcome.

“We have come to a point where we really love each other and we love playing for each other,” Kelley said. “I think that’s the biggest thing when it comes to team sports, just playing for each other. When you love each other and we’re all going towards the same goal, you’re going to win a lot.”