Great year, great team, got beat by a really great team. At least all those in attendance for game 1 can come together in their mutual hatred of Steve Pederson.
Pitt vs Nebraska Semifinals Thread
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Unfortunate. This team still provided some of the most fun moments I've had watching Pitt sports in 2023.
Really bad passing all night. And Nebraska didn’t show any weaknesses. Tough look on the national stage, but a really fun season to watch.
I’ll say that there is reasonable discussion as to whether Sherill or Fisher were better coaches says a lot more about what PItt volleyball has become more than anything else.
Did you forget about Johnny Majors? He only won a national championship, 4 years after taking over a dreadful team.
In the press conference yesterday, Fisher was asked what Nebraska had to do to win. After thinking for a bit, he said play great defense. That they did.
The original question was PItt coaches in your lifetime - so obviously a bit of a moving target !
If we’re taking all time PItt coaches - it’s Jock Sutherland without question.
Yes....now we turn our attention to the portal....we have a highly regarded freshman MB coming in but that's not enough....have to get another from the portal or someone international. I agree Bayless upping her game is needed but another OH transfer is fine by me. Our libero/DS play improved this year but we can't go into 2024 with just Klika and Griffin.
We need to keep building our team to compete with them.And now we have Stanford to contend with in conference.Tough road but Fisher and staff can do it.
Wow....this thread went off the rails.....football coaches from the 1930s
Bummer. Nebraska was great. Defense was stellar, especially blocking.
Great season, lots of amazing entertainment for me as a fan and hopefully lots of new fans brought in. Nothing but cheers for the girls.
Great season, lots of amazing entertainment for me as a fan and hopefully lots of new fans brought in. Nothing but cheers for the girls.
Although Im disappointed Im not shocked by the result. Hopefully Fish can now fill a few holes and continue to recruit the best of the best in the next few years. Nebraska's defense was just off the charts good and they passed "nails" to their setter all night long. No disrespect to our defense and serve receive but we have to step up our passing/defense to the super uber level that Nebraska was showing tonight.
4-5 starters returning is a good base to start. Im still very bullish on this program for now . Until NIL creeps in and the BIG starts throwing money at Vball players then we might be in trouble but lets ride it while we can. H2P!!
4-5 starters returning is a good base to start. Im still very bullish on this program for now . Until NIL creeps in and the BIG starts throwing money at Vball players then we might be in trouble but lets ride it while we can. H2P!!
What about Kelley?
How would this match have been different if the Florida transfer comes here instead of going to Nebraska? Easier said than done of course…but if we can get a player like that out of the portal then we close the gap.
Still need to up our serving game. We did so in the tourney but not enough for me and not tonight. It’s like what the Husker coach said after the match…”everyone has hitters. We need to put pressure on them through service and that’s why we practice it so much”. I totally agree.
Nebraska has more depth. And, tonight their 3 freshmen played better than our two freshmen. Murray didn’t let being on the big stage bother her at all, and besides her hitting she played excellent defense. Reilly set well all match but partially that was because their passing was so good. Jackson had 6 or 7 solo blocks I think.
Let’s not forget that coming out of HS, Murray was the #1 recruit in the country and Reilly was #3. (A hitter from Purdue was #2.) Nebraska has 6 scholarship freshmen plus Beeson from the portal. I think the fact that Babcock won Freshman of the Year motivated them at least a little.
But, their depth was what amazed me. They substituted a lot, usually only for a couple of rotations, and no matter who they put in, there was no weak link. And, the assistant coach who the announcers said designed their blocking schemes did a great job. That was by far the most effective blocking against us all year. We always seemed to be hitting into two blockers.
Let’s not forget that coming out of HS, Murray was the #1 recruit in the country and Reilly was #3. (A hitter from Purdue was #2.) Nebraska has 6 scholarship freshmen plus Beeson from the portal. I think the fact that Babcock won Freshman of the Year motivated them at least a little.
But, their depth was what amazed me. They substituted a lot, usually only for a couple of rotations, and no matter who they put in, there was no weak link. And, the assistant coach who the announcers said designed their blocking schemes did a great job. That was by far the most effective blocking against us all year. We always seemed to be hitting into two blockers.
Let's see.....assuming Kelley and Jepsen make full recoveries from their ankle injuries....we should be in good stead at MB but that assumes they come back at full speed. Some will argue that a team needs at least 3 MBs....perhaps 4 to be safe. We sure needed 4 this year. Just to be safe again...we have 3....with highly regarded freshman MB Ryla Jones but getting a 4th would seem prudent.
Beason is the Florida transfer you refer to....their RS. If Beason had come to Pitt and together with Babcock and Stafford had been our top 3 hitters it would be an interesting debate how we would have performed tonight. But back to reality....others on this board have questioned what role VVG should have next year....and it's a fair question. Every time we see Bayless in action we get excited about her becoming the one that elevates the team to a new height. Only Fisher knows the answer to this.
You'll get no argument from me on serve receive tonight.....8 service errors....5 receiving errors....and then add 2 blocking errors for good measure. We weren't very good to put it mildly.
Ending on a positive note.....this was a great year with a lot for everyone to be proud of. We learned a lot about where we need to improve in 2024 to beat the likes of a Nebraska.....I can't wait to see our progress next year. It will come.
My untrained analysis:
- Nebraska had excellent blockers. Thought that was the difference
- Nebraska doesn't make mistakes. They are like perfect robots. But Pitt hung with them.
- The service error on game point cant happen. If that doesn't go out, Pitt may have won that set and its a different game. But Nebraska had better players.
- Nebraska had excellent blockers. Thought that was the difference
- Nebraska doesn't make mistakes. They are like perfect robots. But Pitt hung with them.
- The service error on game point cant happen. If that doesn't go out, Pitt may have won that set and its a different game. But Nebraska had better players.
Replacing Fairbanks after next year will be critical to assuring those opportunities.
I'd move volleyball to the Spring to showcase it more. The fall is tough with college football, the NFL and college basketball getting going. It could be like the #1 college sport in the spring potentially.
You have to wonder that Nebraska, being so used to playing before big crowds (including the 92k vs Omaha), was certainly more comfortable on the big stage than we were last night. I was unable to watch the game live (DVR'd it) so I FF'd through a lot of ancillary comments. I'd bet that the announcers were pretty convinced of it, too.
Great season by our Lady Panthers. We are still a couple of notches below the blue bloods of women's volleyball, but our time will come. The new facilities and a few key position players might get us over the hump. Gotta keep Fish, for sure
This just shows that if the product is exciting people will come and women's hoops is just not that. Wvb>wbb
My thoughts:
- we played tight and "not to lose"
- once Neb started rolling, we couldn't get it back
- we are 3-5 "superstars" deep, Neb is 6-8. Our lack of high-end depth showed
- we finally got our game going late in the 2nd set and the service error to lose the set took the wind out of our sails.
- it was a great season...top 4 in the country again. Imagine the FB or B-ball team being ranked in the top 5 3 years in a row...we'd be ecstatic.
- we played tight and "not to lose"
- once Neb started rolling, we couldn't get it back
- we are 3-5 "superstars" deep, Neb is 6-8. Our lack of high-end depth showed
- we finally got our game going late in the 2nd set and the service error to lose the set took the wind out of our sails.
- it was a great season...top 4 in the country again. Imagine the FB or B-ball team being ranked in the top 5 3 years in a row...we'd be ecstatic.
It would be nice if Pitt could get another high level setter like Fairbanks. Not sure how things will look after her. There is a 6’3” setter in the class of 2025 named Campbell Flynn who I saw play in Orlando a couple of years ago…..best player I’ve ever seen live. Always was hopeful Pitt could get her. But she committed to……..Nebraska.
pittdan77
Athletic Director
Pitt was never able to get Nebraska out of system. Even the balls that weren't blocked were getting block touched or there was a great dig. Not much you can do when a team just won't give you anything. Torrey had a rough game and that took away options.
After last year, we sort of decided Pitt had to play better in the back row. I really think that Pitt has to get better up the middle, now. Fisher has them so close. One or two players away.
After last year, we sort of decided Pitt had to play better in the back row. I really think that Pitt has to get better up the middle, now. Fisher has them so close. One or two players away.
One of the big issues with playing in the ACC, they never faced a block nearly that big all season. Huge learning curve for the freshman hitters and they'll be better next season for it. Adding Stanford to the ACC is gonna make Pitt so much better. H2P!
I said to my wife last night, "look how tall and long those legs are on the Nebraska team...they're longer than I am tall (I am 6'1")". You are correct.
I think they'll gt there with Fisher.
He needs a couple more good players. The ladies seem to love playing for him.
That Nebraska coach looked like he was passing a kidney stone all night!
Babcock needs to get that serve dialed in or sighted in, or whatever. It is a great weapon, but she needs to do more than break even with it.
Remember, we seemed to get over the Louisville hump this year in crunch time twice, now we have to get over the next hump on a National scene. Very close.
He needs a couple more good players. The ladies seem to love playing for him.
That Nebraska coach looked like he was passing a kidney stone all night!
Babcock needs to get that serve dialed in or sighted in, or whatever. It is a great weapon, but she needs to do more than break even with it.
Remember, we seemed to get over the Louisville hump this year in crunch time twice, now we have to get over the next hump on a National scene. Very close.
Your two most salient points. It never seemed as if there was a "weak" player on the Nebraska team; Pitt could seldom get them out of rhythm
The end of the second set was huge; we fought back to get within one point. Had we won that set, we might have played a 5-setter. Pitt was clearly demoralized after that last service error in set 2
In this sport you cannot get behind more than 2 or 3 points to a decent team and expect to come back.
It is just too hard. It is such a momentum game too. Probably the biggest.
I’ve seen a ton of volleyball the past 6 years so it’s obvious to me. The digs these college ladies make are insane! Such nimble athletes!
Quick and strong. They have to be contortionists and strong to jump that high and hit that strong.
So amazing to watch!
Felt like they got a block or touch leading to an easy pass on like 70% of our swings …
we are so close - Nebraska might be a generationally talented team.
My portal wish list is an elite defensive MB , an elite libero , and an OH ..
I agree with you on that though Caitlin Clark is certainly exciting. The problem with women's basketball is people already watch the NBA and men's NCAAB. So the women's game looks terrible to them because the players are so much worse. Nobody watches men's volleyball so women's volleyball doesn't really compete with the men's game.
No. They had better players than we did and those players didnt make mistakes. And we played in front of some big crowds.
No argument that Nebraska had a few better players than we did, and made fewer mistakes in the match. One of our biggest losses this season was @ Louisville in front of a very large crowd. Our reverse sweep @ the Pete was in a bigger arena, too; difference was the pro Pitt fans. TV yesterday showed a lot of fans clad in Nebraska red. I'm not saying that the big arena/big stage was the SOLE reason we lost; but it certainly was a contributing factor. As Torrey and Olivia continue to make trips into the tournament I think we'll see them grow with their confidence.
Under Berenato following back-to-back sweet 16s, Pitt was up to averaging 2,859 for women's hoops, including some game with a pretty full lower bowl.
Here's the growth of Pitt's volleyball attendance:
Pitt average home volleyball attendance:
2023: 2,820 (ACC Champ, Final Four)
2022: 1,779 (ACC Champ, Final Four)
2021: 1,525 (Final Four)
2020: 185 (COVID, Elite Eight)
2019: 1,196 (ACC Champ, NCAA 2nd rnd)
2018: 1,140 (ACC Champ, NCAA 2nd rnd)
2017: 569 (ACC Champ, NCAA 2nd rnd)
2016: 436 (NCAA 2nd rnd)
2015: 435
2014: 533
2013: 470 (Dan Fisher's 1st season)
2012: 326
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