Steady Stephanie Williams plays key role in rise of Pitt volleyball program

After taking a look at the video sent by assistant Craig Dyer, Pitt women’s volleyball coach Dan Fisher nodded knowingly. He immediately was convinced he needed to make Stephanie Williams part of his burgeoning program.

At a smidge under 6-foot, she wasn’t the tallest outside hitter. She wasn’t the flashiest player. But something about her overall game had Fisher sold.

Williams, a three-sport athlete growing up, started getting overtures for volleyball as a freshman at Notre Dame Cathedral Latin High School in Chardon, Ohio. Most of the offers came from local, mid-level Division I schools such as Cleveland State, Kent State and Akron.

About that time, she was spotted by Dyer at a tournament in Philadelphia. Williams was playing in a losers’ bracket game with her club team and wasn’t on Pitt’s radar.

“I just happened to watch, and I think at that point, you’re looking for tall kids at first and then watching athleticism,” said Dyer, now an assistant at Creigton. “Fish is really big on having a good arm and hitting hard. I think that was the thing we saw with Stephanie early. She was able to elevate, and she likes to hit hard.”

Williams said she is a firm believer in everything happening for a reason, and that chance encounter paid big dividends for her and the Panthers.

Williams, a fifth-year senior, is a three-time first-team All-ACC selection and a three-time honorable mention AVCA All-American. According to the Pitt sports information department, a fourth first-team all-conference nod would put her in rare air: She would be the first from a Pitt team sport during the ACC era and one of the few such honorees in the history of Pitt team sports.

She is among the program’s top 10 all-time in kills and has a chance to move into the top 10 in career digs.

Her success has mirrored that of the team. In her three full seasons, the Panthers have gone 81-18, made three consecutive NCAA Tournament appearances and are coming off back-to-back ACC titles.

Pitt enters this season with its highest preseason ranking: No. 12 in the AVCA Coaches Poll. The Panthers open Friday at home against Cleveland State.

“Stephanie doesn’t have a hole in her game,” Fisher said. “She’s good at everything. She knows how to compete at this level. She knows how to pull herself out of a rut. She knows how to execute a scouting report.”

Williams’ time at Pitt got off to a rocky start. She broke her foot early in her freshman season, forcing her to redshirt. Dyer said she barely made it under the cutoff to redshirt after appearing in nine matches.

Again, she fell back on the “everything happens for a reason” mantra.

“I think I needed that injury and that time to grow,” Williams said. “(Fisher) really helped me overcome and recognize my perfectionism tendencies, how to be a better teammate and move on mentally quicker.

“The physical skill will be there, but on the court is so mental … moving on to the next play.”

Said Fisher: “She used to beat herself up a little bit, and now she is pretty even-keeled. And that’s a pretty good formula for success over a long period of time, to stay emotionally pretty even.”

The Panthers have plenty of players who are animated on the court. With Williams, it typically is hard to tell if she is having a great match or a poor match.

Her teammates notice. Senior middle hitter Layne Van Buskirk, who has played alongside Williams for three seasons, said it is nice to have her calming influence.

“Monotone is a voice, but her body is monotone out there,” Van Buskirk said. “If we’re all too amped up, we get too excited and hit too many balls out. She keeps us level out there.”

For all she has accomplished, Williams said she is far from a finished product. There are still parts of her game she would like to improve, foremost being her performance in big matches.

She pointed to last season’s second-round NCAA Tournament loss to Michigan as an example. Against the Wolverines — and in front of a Petersen Events Center crowd that saw Pitt host tournament matches for the first time — Pitt dropped a 3-2 decision.

Williams admitted she didn’t have her best match. She had eight kills — low by her standards — and hit just .054.

It was a night Pitt needed her at her best with fellow All-ACC first-team outside hitter Kayla Lund sidelined with a sprained ankle.

“I think in the big moments I struggle,” Williams said. “On paper, my kill percentage against top-25 or top-15 teams isn’t as high as I would like.

“I think that’s my big focus this year is rising to the occasion more and just being smarter with my shots.”

Ultimately, she hopes to carry the Panthers to the Final Four, which will be in Pittsburgh this fall. That would be the exclamation point on her college career.

Regardless of what happens, she already has left an indelible mark on the program. Almost as profound as the impression she made on Fisher in that fateful video clip.

“We still fight a lot of (recruiting) battles with Big Ten teams, and she (was) in Big Ten country,” Fisher said. “And I think at that time, some of those schools were wondering if she was a little too short.

“I think some of those schools are probably …”

As his sentence tailed off, Fisher leaned forward on his desk, glanced downward and nodded knowingly.