Pitt volleyball set for another slugfest with Louisville in 4th consecutive trip to Final 4

When Dan Fisher returns to campus — worst scenario Friday, better scenario Monday — he carefully will hang what he referred to as a “really cool” Louisville Slugger baseball bat on his office wall.

The bat, a gift from tournament organizers, will serve as a permanent reminder of his Pitt women’s volleyball team’s fourth consecutive Final Four appearance.

The memories from that appearance will be made starting with — but perhaps not limited to — Pitt’s return engagement with Louisville in a national semifinal match at 6:30 p.m. Thursday at his opponent’s home venue, KFC Yum! Center.

“(The bat) will be in my office forever,” Fisher told reporters Wednesday.

The nature of the memories that bat will deliver — good or bad — are yet to be determined. The Pitt/Louisville winner will face Penn State or Nebraska on Sunday for the national championship.

Pitt and its ACC rival Louisville have met 10 times since 2021. Each team has won five. Louisville won four of the first five, Pitt four of the most recent five, including the past four in a row. Of the 10, six have gone five sets, with four of those won by Pitt.

“There have been multiple games where maybe one team thought it was over, and it wasn’t,” Fisher said.

Two years ago, Louisville eliminated Pitt, 3-2, in a Final Four semifinal match in Omaha, Neb. Pitt knocked Louisville from the 2023 NCAA Tournament with a 3-2 victory in a Regional Final at Fitzgerald Field House.

“It’s definitely about respect,” Fisher said of his team’s relationship with the Cardinals. “Playing against great teams makes you better and exposes you to stuff you don’t see in your own practice gym or when you’re playing a weaker opponent. Even though we’ve won both games (this season), there are things we’ve learned from those that made us uncomfortable in certain areas.”

Senior Rachel Fairbanks is one of four Pitt players named All-Americans on Wednesday by the American Volleyball Coaches Association. She joined two other first-teamers, Olivia Babcock and Torrey Stafford, and second-team choice Bre Kelley. Fairbanks has been to all four Final Fours and is nearly as familiar with her Louisville opponents as her own teammates.

“We make them better. They make us better,” she said. “The opportunity of playing them multiple times in one season is good preparation for big moments like this. The older players on the team are used to high-pressure situations like this. Pressure is a privilege. We love being in situations like this. We’re more prepared. We’re ready.”

Babcock, a sophomore, ACC Player of the Year and one of four finalists for AVCA National Player of the Year, said Pitt is approaching this Final Four a bit different than last year when the Panthers were ousted in a semifinal by Nebraska, 3-0, in Tampa, Fla.

“Last year, everyone tries to prepare you for it, but when you actually get there, you’re still overwhelmed,” she said. “It’s all still new to you, and you’re distracted by the outside noise. This year, we’ve really worked on channeling it in and staying in our 3-foot world. That’s helped us have success. At this point, we’re no longer new to this.”

Another significant perk: Final exams are over, and the players don’t have to juggle academics and volleyball simultaneously.

“It’s a lot to handle,” Fairbanks said. “We’re fortunate to have good resources at Pitt that help us through everything and then good mentors that show us the way.”

Fisher has a juggling act of his own to perform: preparing his team with thorough scouting reports but not to the extent they become robots on the court.

“I’m trying to find that balance as a coach,” he said. “When you overdo it, sometimes the athletes are trying to play a scouting report on the court. We want them on the court playing the percentages but trusting what they’re seeing.

“Probably uncharacteristically early this week, we didn’t watch any Louisville video. Just worked on some things we wanted to work on.”

During their interview session Wednesday, Babcock, Fairbanks and Stafford refused to buy into the theory that it’s difficult to defeat a team three times in a season. Pitt won 3-2 on Oct. 25 at The Pete and 3-1 on Nov. 27 at Yum! Center. None of that matters, they said.

“It’s hard to beat Louisville, period,” Stafford said, referring to Yum! Center as “our second home.”

Said Babcock: “Yeah, it’s the same team, but I think we know this team and we know our best is really good. It seems like both of us are at the peak of our game.”