Pitt's women's volleyball team makes history, reaches NCAA Sweet 16 after defeating Utah

Emotionally drained after sweeping Utah, 3-0, to finally reach the NCAA Regional Semifinal after four previous failures, Pitt’s women’s volleyball players were unanimous on how they wanted to spend their day off Friday.

“I think we’re going to go to the zoo,” coach Dan Fisher said. “Omaha is known for a nice zoo, I hear.”

A historic match point! ?@Pitt_VB advances to its first-ever Round of 16 after taking down (14) Utah in straight sets on Thursday.#NCAAVB pic.twitter.com/13oq7X1CPW

— NCAA Women's Volleyball (@NCAAVolleyball) April 16, 2021

Anything to relieve the tension and relax after making program history Thursday night with a 25-16, 25-18, 25-19 straight-set victory against Utah (13-5 and the No. 10 team in the nation) at Omaha’s CHI Health Center.

The victory erased all the frustrations from Pitt’s second-round losses in the past four tournaments and set up a program-first Sweet 16 game against Minnesota, the No. 3 seed, at 1 p.m. Sunday. The game will be streamed on ESPN3.

“There is kind of a drain when you play competition,” Fisher said. “It’s good to have a day where we don’t need to be fully on.”

Pitt (18-4) had its on/off switch flipped in the right direction Thursday, responding to every Utah rally with dominant scoring runs that helped win the first two sets.

“We forced our will pretty good,” Fisher said.

Then, with the third set tied at 14, Pitt went on streaks of 3-0 and 4-0 to ensure its season would continue.

“I don’t know that we can say we stopped them,” Fisher said, “but I would describe our performance as we out-offensed them. They have some great offensive players who played well, but we matched that and surpassed their offense.”

Pitt was fueled by two-time ACC Player of the Year Kayla Lund and Chinaza Ndee, who were at their best when Utah started to rally.

“They weren’t rolling over,” Fisher said of Utah. “That’s when Kayla and Chinaza started doing the same thing for us. Utah took its game to another level and we matched it.”

Ndee collected 17 kills and Lund added 15, with 16 digs. Kylee Levers and Lexis Aveo were Pitt’s assist leaders with 22 and 18.

The victory was personal redemption for several Pitt players, who were part of the team that was thought to be one of the best in the nation in 2019 before losing in the second round to Cincinnati at Petersen Events Center, 3-2.

“For some of these players, it’s four years — we have some fifth-year seniors — who have just put in a lot of time to be good enough to be in this situation,” Fisher said. “For me and my staff, it’s been longer than that. So, it’s a big moment for them and a huge moment for our program.”

Ndee said she was disappointed in how she played last year.

“I wasn’t myself. I was really tentative,” she said. “I wasn’t really giving to the team as much as I wanted to be. And I was very determined not to be like that this year.”

Pitt had won three consecutive ACC championships before this season, but the women have learned how to handle success.

“We’ve been a good program for years,” Fisher said, “but I think last year it probably caught a lot of the players by surprise when people were talking about whether we should be the No. 1 team in the country.

“You get in a tight game and it’s human nature to play not to lose.”

The difference now is that Pitt is one of only two unseeded teams to reach the Sweet 16 — Western Kentucky is the other — and the women have embraced and fed off the underdog role.

“This is the first year we haven’t won the (ACC) in a while,” Ndee said. “I think that kind of fueled us a little bit. Having a chip on our shoulder made us grittier this spring and just more willing to grind it out with teams.

“In the past, we wanted to play not to lose, not to disappoint anybody. Now, it’s we know how good we can be.”

When the final match ended, players ran from the bench, and there were smiles, hugs, tears and even what looked like a hastily arranged break dance.

“It was just relief,” Ndee said. “I was really trying to hold it together during the game. It was an outpouring of emotion. We just worked very hard. With covid, with quarantine, it felt like it was worth it.”