Here is another very in-depth article by John Demko (John in South Carolina) about our Women’s Volleyball Team who are heading into the post-season NCAA tournament as the 6th seed!!
Pitt’s ACC co-champion women’s volleyball team continue their season this weekend as they play in their seventh consecutive NCAA women’s volleyball tournament. They were named the 2nd seed in the Wisconsin led bracket. Overall, they were the 6th highest seeded team in the tournament.
This is Pitt’s highest seeding in the NCAA tournament. It is their 18th overall trip to the tournament. Under Coach Fisher Pitt has won eleven NCAA tournament matches. Prior to “Fish” Pitt had a total of two wins. Last year Pitt made it to the Final Four for the first time. In 2020 Pitt made it to their first Elite Eight.
Pitt will host the first and second rounds of the tournament. Pitt’s first match will be against the Colgate Raiders on Friday, December 2nd, at 7 PM in the Petersen Events Center. The winner of this match will face the winner of the preceding match between #7 seed BYU and James Madison. The second-round match will start at 7 PM on Saturday, December 3rd, in the Petersen Events Center.
The ACC placed five teams in the tournament. Louisville, Pitt’s ACC co-champion, is one of the #1 seeds. Georgia Tech is a #5 seed. Florida State and Miami are #7 seeds.
Pitt’s first opponent in the tournament, Colgate, is the champion of the Patriot League which includes Army and Navy. Pitt and Coach Fisher are 1-0 versus the Raiders with a sweep on 9/5/2015. Colgate and Pitt have played one common opponent, NC State. Colgate got swept by NC State at NC State. Pitt defeated NC State at the Fitz in four sets. Colgate other losses were to Villanova, Southern Cal, Navy, and Army.
Colgate is surprisingly tall for a lower conference champion. They play a 6-2 offense like Pitt’s offensive scheme. Another similarity is that one of their setters is a six-rotation player and is an important part of Colgate’s front-line offense.
In a comparison of team offensive statistics Colgate hits at 0.260 versus their opponents 0.188. Pitt’s numbers are 0.268 versus 0.151. Colgate does not have a good service ace to error ratio with 153 aces versus 242 errors. Pitt’s numbers are 152 aces versus 158 errors. Pitt has an advantage in all offensive categories.
In team defense Colgate has 14.28 digs/set along with 1.98 blocks/set. Pitt has 13.1 digs/set to go with 2.6 blocks/set. Colgate has more digs per set than Pitt, but Pitt is the better blocking team. Pitt had more sweeps than Colgate with more lopsided scores. This could easily account for the difference in digs per set.
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