Pitt women advance in NCAA volleyball tournament in straight-sets win against Howard

A year ago, the Pitt women’s volleyball team won its first-round match in the NCAA Tournament.

The Panthers matched that achievement Friday night, easily eliminating Howard with their 21st straight-sets victory in front of a crowd of 1,631 at Petersen Events Center.

The 25-9, 25-21, 25-14 victory was one of 30 this season and marked the fourth consecutive year the Panthers won a first-round match in the tournament.

No one was taking victory for granted — Howard (20-13) was matching the sixth-seeded Panthers point for point through much of the second set — but it was no time to celebrate, either. Pitt won 30 games last year, too, but that’s where it ended as the Panthers were bounced from the tournament in a second-round match with Michigan.

This time, coach Dan Fisher and his women want more, and that’s the chip they will carry with them Saturday night at the Pete against Cincinnati.

Pitt defeated Cincinnati, 3-0, on Aug. 30 in its second match of this season. A victory in the rematch will put Pitt in the NCAA Sweet 16 for the first time.

Is this a different, more complete Pitt team this season? Fisher thinks so.

“There are, of course, some similarities, but we’re deeper,” he said. “We have multiple players on our bench who can come in and help at any time.

“I think we’re just a little bit steadier, a year older and a little more seasoned, just a little bit more confident in tight moments.”

Howard coach Shaun Kupferberg said his team needed to play the perfect game to defeat Pitt, the No. 2 team in the nation, according to the American Volleyball Coaches Association poll.

“We make too many errors at this level at this time to compete against teams like that,” he said. “They don’t make mistakes.

“They weren’t doing anything we couldn’t do. They just played better than us. They are more efficient than anybody in the country.”

When Pitt found itself down early and midway through the second set, the Panthers put together seven kills, four by Stephanie Williams (who ended up with 10) and three by Chinaza Ndee. Pitt went up, 14-13, and never trailed after that.

“I knew we had to keep up that level of play and for us that’s really hard,” Kupferberg said.

“They don’t play emotionally. There are some teams that go in ebbs and flows. They are just consistent and solid. We took one little breath and they were, boom, a couple points ahead, and it was gone.”

Kupferberg said he’s impressed by how Fisher builds his team.

“He hasn’t gotten the top 10 or top five kids like when we go play Penn State,” he said. “Those are the elite of the elite athletes in the country.

“He has very good athletes, but they’re not those athletes. They are athletes that you look and (say), ‘OK, they’re good, but they are so well-coached and so efficient that they are able to execute very well.”

Kupferberg said he has high hopes for Pitt.

“We look forward to watching Pitt and, hopefully, saying we lost to a national champion,” he said.

First, the Panthers must get past Cincinnati (26-6) and 6-foot-4 Jordan Thompson, who led the U.S. National Team in points this summer as it qualified for the 2020 Tokyo Olympics. Thompson is the niece of former Pitt defensive end and Pro Football Hall of Famer Chris Doleman.

“She can do everything,” said Pitt’s Kayla Lund, the ACC Player of the Year. “It’s not just she’s a great hitter. She can pass. She can play in the back row. She hits some crazy back-row attacks.

“She is just a threat. She has the ability to completely take over a game.”

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