Pitt women's volleyball team sweeps Arizona State at PPG Paints Arena

Pitt women’s volleyball setter Brooke Mosher got the go-ahead from coach Dan Fisher to utilize her jump serve against Arizona State on Monday during the State Farm Volleyball Showcase at PPG Paints Arena.

The Panthers senior wasn’t excited that she was asked to use a float serve Sunday against TCU.

Mosher, a transfer from Illinois, finished with four service aces Monday to help the No. 9 Panthers roll to a 25-21, 25-18, 25-16 win over the No. 8 Sun Devils in front of a crowd of 5,382.

“She’s a team player, and she was a little mad that I had her float serve yesterday,” Fisher said. “At practice this morning, she asked what serve do you want to work on this morning? I said ‘What do you want to do?’ She said jump serve. I said go prove it. She answered the call.”

Mosher also contributed 21 assists, five digs and four blocks. Fisher was happy with the pace of Mosher’s jump serve, which he felt tailed off at the end.

After Mosher had one serve waived off for a foot fault, she was determined to make the rest of them count.

“I was just telling Fish that after you get called for a foot fault, you have to really turn it on after that,” Mosher said. “Tough serving always puts pressure on the other team. It gets them out of their system, which is a lot harder of a swing to get back on to our side of the net.”

Pitt (2-2) picked up its second win in as many days with an aggressive front line. The Panthers recorded 14 blocks, including a career-high five from Blaire Bayless. Bayless also led the team with nine kills.

“Hopefully, it’s her getting back to herself,” Fisher said. “She was our top outside (hitter) offensively. It didn’t happen for whatever reason the first weekend.”

Olivia Babcock and Dagmar Mourits tied for second on Pitt with six kills apiece.

The Sun Devils finished with a .051 hitting percentage. Arizona State committed 26 attack errors.

Sun Devils coach JJ Van Neil said Pitt was more physical.

“They kicked our (backside),” Van Neil said. “That was tough. They handled our serve really well. They were very physical with that. … They served the best they have this season, and they put a lot of pressure on us.”

Noemie Glover finished with a team-high 16 kills for Arizona State. The Sun Devils opened the match by scoring the first five points.

Arizona State led 7-2 in the first set before Pitt rallied. Three consecutive kills from Bayless allowed Pitt to take its first lead 9-8.

The Panthers took the lead for good in the opening set when Mosher hit a blistering serve that dropped in for an ace. It was part of a stretch of five consecutive points for the Panthers with Mosher delivering three aces.

Mosher said she feels more comfortable with four matches under her belt. Opening with four top-25 opponents in nine days had her on her toes.

“I think with the more and more practice we’re getting every day, the more and more comfortable I’m getting with all my hitters,” Mosher said. “And then, last weekend we were in kind of a pretty similar environment to this weekend, so last weekend was a pretty good preparation for this weekend.”