Putting and starting Emmy at libero completely changed this team, she’s made such a difference
Womens VB - vs. Wisconsin
- Thread starter PittMed
- Start date
Pretty miraculous that both MSOC and now volleyball have made the final four on what we’re supposed to be “doen” years
OK. It’s now 9:42 here on the West Coast and I’m watching my neighbor’s daughter, Elia Rubin, playing for Stanford against San Diego. In fact, she made the last kill for Stanford and Paul Sunderland is talking about how composed she is for a freshman. She is “only” 6’1 which is a little short for an outside hitter.
Anyway, back to the Pitt match, who thought we would get swept after we blew a 19-12 lead and lost the first set? (Raises hand.)
This team has gotten mentally tougher through the season. The only match where they didn’t display a lot of fight was the second match with Louisville.
I thought we were strong throughout the second and third sets. Didn’t give them a chance to string a lot of points together. Then, in the 4th set, we seemed to lose focus. And, we didn’t have a single block. We usually have more blocks than whoever we are playing. Zero blocks in a set is unheard of for us.
The crowd was so fired up for the 5th set that I was worried it would make it harder for us to get our focus back. But, we did. Up 7-2 and then 11-6, you would think we had it in the bag. Then, suddenly it was 12-11 Wisconsin. Was the roof caving in again, ala Set 1? Nope.
I thought the key point of the entire night was with Wisconsin up 13-12 and serving. We won that and then Serena Gray served out the match. It was Wisconsin which fell apart on those last two points.
I would love to see a statistic on the percentage of successful kills we have when Fairbanks sets as opposed to anyone else. It seems to me that it is much higher when she is serving, especially when she sets for CB.
San Diego just upset Stanford, coming from behind to win the final 2 sets. They now are 31-1. They beat us the first weekend of the season. My neighbor will be disconsolate even though Paul Sunderland called his daughter’s play in the final 3 sets “spectacular.”
For those who don’t know, this is not San Diego State. This is the University of California at San Diego, which statistically is the hardest of all of the UC schools to get admitted. What is amazing is that most of the volleyball team, including 6 of the 9 players who are in the regular rotation, are not from California. They are a very tall team, almost as tall as Texas. It should be an interesting match.
I was really hoping for Oregon to beat Louisville, but no such luck. I think it certainly will be a better match than our last one with them. I think the key will be winning the first set. If we do that, I like our chances. Last year, we won the first set against Nebraska, but then their height made the difference in the next 3. Louisville doesn’t have a height advantage over us. Fisher will have us ready to play. If we win the first set, Pitt in 4!
By the way, my neighbor’s daughter was a teammate of Pitt volleyball recruit Torrey Stafford last year at Marymount HS here. His daughter was the Gatorade Player of the Year in California, but Stanford almost didn’t recruit her because she is only 6’1. She is the PAC-12 Freshman of the Year and was 2d on the team in kills. I’m sure they are happy now that they recruited her. He told me they didn’t recruit Stafford because of her height and the fact that every outside hitter on the team is an underclasswoman. I think one day they will regret that.
Anyway, back to the Pitt match, who thought we would get swept after we blew a 19-12 lead and lost the first set? (Raises hand.)
This team has gotten mentally tougher through the season. The only match where they didn’t display a lot of fight was the second match with Louisville.
I thought we were strong throughout the second and third sets. Didn’t give them a chance to string a lot of points together. Then, in the 4th set, we seemed to lose focus. And, we didn’t have a single block. We usually have more blocks than whoever we are playing. Zero blocks in a set is unheard of for us.
The crowd was so fired up for the 5th set that I was worried it would make it harder for us to get our focus back. But, we did. Up 7-2 and then 11-6, you would think we had it in the bag. Then, suddenly it was 12-11 Wisconsin. Was the roof caving in again, ala Set 1? Nope.
I thought the key point of the entire night was with Wisconsin up 13-12 and serving. We won that and then Serena Gray served out the match. It was Wisconsin which fell apart on those last two points.
I would love to see a statistic on the percentage of successful kills we have when Fairbanks sets as opposed to anyone else. It seems to me that it is much higher when she is serving, especially when she sets for CB.
San Diego just upset Stanford, coming from behind to win the final 2 sets. They now are 31-1. They beat us the first weekend of the season. My neighbor will be disconsolate even though Paul Sunderland called his daughter’s play in the final 3 sets “spectacular.”
For those who don’t know, this is not San Diego State. This is the University of California at San Diego, which statistically is the hardest of all of the UC schools to get admitted. What is amazing is that most of the volleyball team, including 6 of the 9 players who are in the regular rotation, are not from California. They are a very tall team, almost as tall as Texas. It should be an interesting match.
I was really hoping for Oregon to beat Louisville, but no such luck. I think it certainly will be a better match than our last one with them. I think the key will be winning the first set. If we do that, I like our chances. Last year, we won the first set against Nebraska, but then their height made the difference in the next 3. Louisville doesn’t have a height advantage over us. Fisher will have us ready to play. If we win the first set, Pitt in 4!
By the way, my neighbor’s daughter was a teammate of Pitt volleyball recruit Torrey Stafford last year at Marymount HS here. His daughter was the Gatorade Player of the Year in California, but Stanford almost didn’t recruit her because she is only 6’1. She is the PAC-12 Freshman of the Year and was 2d on the team in kills. I’m sure they are happy now that they recruited her. He told me they didn’t recruit Stafford because of her height and the fact that every outside hitter on the team is an underclasswoman. I think one day they will regret that.
Very informative. Thanks!
I didn’t watch the first set because I had to pay my dues with the wife. We’d been watching a lot of soccer obviously because of the World Cup. She knows the sport well so she actually enjoys it. But she wanted to watch “The Holiday” together so I obliged. When the movie was over I put the Vball on and we watched it together. My wife was actually glued to it. She has never watched it before but really enjoyed it. A couple things.
I thought for sure we would pay the price for not winning that first set. It’s like a soccer team that dominates and has a dozen shots in the first half of a game but doesn’t score. You know that’s going to cost them in the end. But somehow our ladies fought in a hostile environment and won the next 2 sets. However maybe hostile isn’t the right word. Maybe pro Wisconsin is more appropriate. It seemed like a fun atmosphere.
Of all the sports, I think volleyball gets the heart rate going more than any other. An overtime NHL playoff game might be the only thing that compares. Although the USA World Cup matches had my heart rate elevated too.
In the 5th set when we went up by 5 on two separate occasions, I was thinking final 4. My heart rate never really spiked. Then Wisconsin tied it and took the lead and it elevated for me.
My wife was asking why #10 for them was so good and unstoppable, but I told her the problem was more of our passing that allowed Wisconsin to get back into the set.
I don’t know how we fought back after going down 13-12. Vince McMahon, or maybe it was Gorilla Monsoon, always called it “intestinal foritude”. Regardless of who said it best, that’s the cliche that keeps popping into my mind. We never got Nwolkolo involved in the set but Gray was the player who stepped up for me.
Gotta give the ladies credit. I didn't think we had much of a chance to win, especially without Dalton. Wisconsin has been so good this year, and for a long time and it is such a tough place to play. Pitt played every point tough. I hope Dalton is well enough to play next match. We really need her
Correction. The Final 4 volleyball team is Univ of San Diego. The private catholic school . Not UCSD. Which is a public state school
I’ll pat myself on the back- 😎 I’ve said all season I think this team has a chance to reach or exceed last year’s success.
We are so deep and bigger up front. Our serve and serve receive is so much better. A key to victory last night was our service and service receive was much better than Wisconsin.
What a match and what victory! H2P !
I believe also said that this team was as good or better than last year as well.
I literally let out a yell and a fist bump after the final point. Wow. It is fun. My god that 6'9" chick, when she would get the kill, that thing just went straight down from that high angle.
I always loved playing volleyball. I almost played in HS, but also played alot of hoops which was same season. My friend's brother was on the 1980 US Olympic Volleyball team. Northern Allegheny County then was like this hot bed of volleyball programs with NA, Deer Lakes, Hampton, etc... all having really good programs.
Now Freeport's girls is a power, always winning the WPIAL and this year the State's.
But just playing recreational volleyball, so fun. We had a sand court in my apartment complex in Greenville and we had some epic volleyball matches that bordered on NBA contact at the net. I always could leap so it was so much fun for me because I can spike and block with much taller dudes.
I always loved playing volleyball. I almost played in HS, but also played alot of hoops which was same season. My friend's brother was on the 1980 US Olympic Volleyball team. Northern Allegheny County then was like this hot bed of volleyball programs with NA, Deer Lakes, Hampton, etc... all having really good programs.
Now Freeport's girls is a power, always winning the WPIAL and this year the State's.
But just playing recreational volleyball, so fun. We had a sand court in my apartment complex in Greenville and we had some epic volleyball matches that bordered on NBA contact at the net. I always could leap so it was so much fun for me because I can spike and block with much taller dudes.
pittdan77
Athletic Director
We watched over eight hours of volleyball yesterday but the Pitt game was the most intense and most physical game of the four.
The girls really kept their focus and sort of outlasted Wisconsin, late. Some terrible mental mistakes by Wisconsin in the fifth set was the difference. All that with the up official making some bad calls. A real mentally challenging situation. Just a gutsy win against a very good team.
No idea what happens Thursday but the ACC will be represented in the final and you really can’t be disappointed if Pitt can’t get past a very good Louisville squad.
The girls really kept their focus and sort of outlasted Wisconsin, late. Some terrible mental mistakes by Wisconsin in the fifth set was the difference. All that with the up official making some bad calls. A real mentally challenging situation. Just a gutsy win against a very good team.
No idea what happens Thursday but the ACC will be represented in the final and you really can’t be disappointed if Pitt can’t get past a very good Louisville squad.
pittdan77
Athletic Director
PA volleyball is getting better and the sport is growing so fast in the state. Heading out to Freeport for a tournament in February. Looking forward to seeing how those girls are coached.
Hey, women’s volleyball is very entertaining. Really think we’ve been missing out on what other countries already know.
Agree with everything you said
Pitt wisky was markedly more physical than Stanford San Diego. I don't want to get into too much hyperbole, but The pitt game reminded me of an old school ravens stiller game or pitt uconn hoops where every single possession involved finishing with serious physicality.
The officials really bailed pitt out by not calling a double on Ennis. It was a double and a bad one.
Not sure how pitt gets by Louisville without major improvement from the outsides. I hope to see buzzerio staying in all 6 rotations. Pitt needs an extra attacker with spice.
Picking up on your Steelers-Ravens analogy, Pitt vs Louisville 3 has all the markings of Ali vs Frazier 3 - "The Thrilla in Manilla". Whomever is left standing at the end, wins!
Buzzerio doesn’t play more because it is a physically exhausting sport. You need breaks. Even Fairbanks takes breaks and she looks like she is made out of steel.
Thank goodness that 6’9 player for Wisconsin needs more rest than most. She is pretty much unstoppable when she is in there but she is on the bench for long periods.
Having played against Buzzerio for 4 years when she was at Iowa, I think Wisconsin knew how to defend her better than most teams do. She still got her kills, but on many more swings than usual.
Dalton is not a great hitter. But, she is important on the block and she is good at getting digs when she is in the back row. Fisher used Lexi a lot in the back row last night, and she had some key digs. But, we really had no one to replace Dalton up front as a blocker. He used Ennis, but she neither had the size nor the vertical.
After last season. I thought we would have a fairly significant drop off this season, losing Lund and Member-Mensah. It didn’t happen because we picked up Buzzerio and Dalton.
After this year, we lose Buzzerio and Gray for sure and probably Nwokole. Although Nwokolo could return, she walked on senior night and will be starting law school next year. Tough to fit volleyball in with first year law.
Fisher has his best freshman class coming in, including 3 hitters. But, I think he will try to get one big hitter in the portal. He tends to bring freshmen into the lineup slowly; Fairbanks spent the first half of last season as the designated server, but by the NCAAs she was a regular. But, she is a very special talent. This year, he has said that Jepsen is the best freshman hitter he has had on a team. She started getting some playing time toward the end of the year, but it disappeared in the NCAAs. Despite her height, Dalton has not shown to be a big hitter. She is much better as a blocker up front and as a digger in the second row.
Anyway, that is the future. The present is Louisville volleyball. I guarantee that Fisher will have us ready.
Thank goodness that 6’9 player for Wisconsin needs more rest than most. She is pretty much unstoppable when she is in there but she is on the bench for long periods.
Having played against Buzzerio for 4 years when she was at Iowa, I think Wisconsin knew how to defend her better than most teams do. She still got her kills, but on many more swings than usual.
Dalton is not a great hitter. But, she is important on the block and she is good at getting digs when she is in the back row. Fisher used Lexi a lot in the back row last night, and she had some key digs. But, we really had no one to replace Dalton up front as a blocker. He used Ennis, but she neither had the size nor the vertical.
After last season. I thought we would have a fairly significant drop off this season, losing Lund and Member-Mensah. It didn’t happen because we picked up Buzzerio and Dalton.
After this year, we lose Buzzerio and Gray for sure and probably Nwokole. Although Nwokolo could return, she walked on senior night and will be starting law school next year. Tough to fit volleyball in with first year law.
Fisher has his best freshman class coming in, including 3 hitters. But, I think he will try to get one big hitter in the portal. He tends to bring freshmen into the lineup slowly; Fairbanks spent the first half of last season as the designated server, but by the NCAAs she was a regular. But, she is a very special talent. This year, he has said that Jepsen is the best freshman hitter he has had on a team. She started getting some playing time toward the end of the year, but it disappeared in the NCAAs. Despite her height, Dalton has not shown to be a big hitter. She is much better as a blocker up front and as a digger in the second row.
Anyway, that is the future. The present is Louisville volleyball. I guarantee that Fisher will have us ready.
The key to Freeport's success is these girls start playing together in 7th grade. Our coach has been doing this forever, and he has built this program into a force.
They run a 6-2 system, with two setters most of the time.
They practice like demons, go at each other hard each and every time. So much so that the coach has to back them down before someone gets hurt.
They play unselfish, they play tenacious defense, they don't get rattled, and they are super aggressive.
We played a lot of teams with a couple star players, the girl from Philipsburg was an Indiana recruit as a junior, and the three seniors for Shenango were great players, and the team they played in the championship game had 4 all state players, yet Freeport beat them all.
One or two star players can't win games by themselves.
Freeport has 6 excellent players playing as one unit. They have an excellent rotation with good centers and hitters in position at all times.
The other thing is our serving. We rarely beat ourselves.
And defensively, it is hard to get the ball on the floor against us.
We lose a great senior leader to graduation, but we have a lot coming back, so looking forward to another run!
The team's motto is "Tradition never graduates", and they live up to this.
pittdan77
Athletic Director
Louisville didn't play well on Saturday but still won. They seem to be at their best when their back row is playing well. If there was one element to Pitt's play on Saturday that is worrisome it was the setting. As the match went on, the sets got a little sloppy. Had to rely on Wisconsin to make errors because roll shots and soft hits were all they could manage. That kind of play won't beat Louisville. Going to be a late night on Thursday.
Just got home from being out of town and watched the match on replay. Whoa! Great win!! Go Panthers, beat Louisville.
A 6’9” female in a womens sport is nuts. I never played organized volleyball I did win an intramural championship at Pitt once. Haha. I was a better defensive player and setter who could occasionally hit because I’m probably 6 inches shorter than you. But when we would see a womens net, it was like playing hoops on an 8ft high rim. I could crush a ball. I can’t imagine a woman who is almost a whole foot taller hitting on a net that low.
pittdan77
Athletic Director
The average women's front row player in D1 is around 6' so she's well above the average. I always get a chuckle when I see a player like that standing next to the Libero.
You may or may not remember, but the Pitt women's basketball team had a girl from Jamaica who was at one point recognized as the tallest female teenager in the world. She was 6-11. Her name was Marvadene Anderson, but everyone called her by her nickname, "Bubbles". Unfortunately, she could not stay healthy. Her last injury was when she blew out her knee while coming down with a rebound and kind of twisting so that she didn't land "clean". It was bad enough that eventually the doctors told her that she shouldn't play any more, because she was risking permanent damage to the knee.
Anyhoo, here is a picture of her. I do not know off the top of my head who the woman in the middle is, but the person on the right hand side of this picture is her teammate and point guard and current Pitt women's assistant, Brianna Kiesel. For reference, Kiesel is 5-7. Which is kind of a normal height for a woman.
Curious that she doesn't play basketball, since there are more opportunities to make a living in hoops - at least I think there are. Maybe she did and just didn't like it, or wasn't very good.
Buzzerio really does not take breaks. She plays about as much as any RS can. In a 6-2 offense, your starting RS is really only going to play half the match, and Buzzerio regularly exceeds that. Ask yourself how many times you ever saw Ndee defend or serve.
In fact, Buzzerio has played several back row rotations lately, after playing about zero for the first several months. Normally after her turn at serving, they sub in Akeo so that Fairbanks is attacking in the front instead of setting. Against Florida, in the second set, there was a rotation where they went with a 5-1 and left Buzzerio in there to play back row defense. She's been playing so well, I think Fish just can't stomach subbing her out.
Buzzerio does take breaks, but you are correct that she does play some in the back row. She has been used some to hit kills from there recently. Someone who can be effective at scoring from the back has been missing in this team all year. Sue Williams and then Kayla Lund gave us that threat, which I think is particularly important against a team like Texas which has multiple players who are effective blockers.
Buzzerio also isn’t bad at digging. Long term I think Fisher would like to see Dalton develop into a dangerous back row striker. She already is good defensively, but she hasn’t been much of a force as a striker from front or back.
I don’t ever recall Ndee being in the back row except to serve. She has a very limited game, but what she does she does well.
When I think of losing Grey, Buzzerio and Ndee after this season, I really think that if there is going to be a year for Pitt, this is it. At least until Jepsen and the incoming recruits develop. Fisher has been great in the transfer portal bringing in Grey, Member-Mensah and Buzzerio, but hitting on three in the same year and having them all quickly integrate into the team will be a Herculean task.
I heard he tried to sign Markova for this year, but she chose Florida. With her and Buzzerio on the outside and the two Middle Blockers we have, this team would have been unstoppable IMO.
Buzzerio also isn’t bad at digging. Long term I think Fisher would like to see Dalton develop into a dangerous back row striker. She already is good defensively, but she hasn’t been much of a force as a striker from front or back.
I don’t ever recall Ndee being in the back row except to serve. She has a very limited game, but what she does she does well.
When I think of losing Grey, Buzzerio and Ndee after this season, I really think that if there is going to be a year for Pitt, this is it. At least until Jepsen and the incoming recruits develop. Fisher has been great in the transfer portal bringing in Grey, Member-Mensah and Buzzerio, but hitting on three in the same year and having them all quickly integrate into the team will be a Herculean task.
I heard he tried to sign Markova for this year, but she chose Florida. With her and Buzzerio on the outside and the two Middle Blockers we have, this team would have been unstoppable IMO.
Yes, that is my point. Stephanie Williams and Kayla Lund were an OH, not a RS. In Pitt's 6-2 offense, the OH plays in the back row and the RS does not.
If you want to argue that Fairbanks is a great enough setter and Buzzerio a great enough hitter that Pitt should play only a 5-1 and that Akeo should never see the court, that is a different debate, and lots of VB fans might agree. Buzzerio does not sit now because she's tired, she sits because her position rotates out of play.
If this were a video game instead of real life, I would've enjoyed Fish running the experiment where Pitt runs a 6-2 where Fairbanks/Buzzerio just swap back and forth as Setter and RS the whole match and never sub out. Buzzerio did at Iowa what Fairbanks is doing now. We could've had two players with triple doubles in the same match.
Add Ennis as another really quality transfer we lose.
That said - have to think Fisher will land at least 3 more very high quality transfers for next season too- So many quality transfers out there .
While that is true, with Fairbanks, Dalton, Gomez you are starting with a lot of quality, and flood/Klika are solid rotation pieces. I just sort of think we woulda said the same thing last year when we lost Lund, Ndee, and Member Meneh.
We’re going to be good. I would be stunned if we weren’t a sweet 16 team at worst. You just know he’s going to add 2-3 great players.
Pitt will basically be advertising a starting MB and RS position as a back-to-back Final Four program. It is hard to envision which other teams in the country could have a better offer. Not to mention both Buzzerio, and Leketor M-M last year, both became NCAA Regional MVP in their single seasons here. We're a proven winner and we've done it with big time transfers.
Otherwise, we look really good on paper with VVG/Dalton at OH, Fairbanks/Akeo at S, Klika at L. I suspect Jepsen will take over as the second MB for Nwokolo.
If we assume that all of the departing SR/GR players are on scholarships (6), and all of the incoming recruits are on scholarships (4), we have two openings left. Those would be the MB and RS transfer targets. Flood and Posada would be possible candidates to transfer out.
Wow, I’d be surprised if Flood transfers. Also, I guess it isn’t 100% set in stone that Nwokolo is gone…
When Kayla Lund got hurt in the 2018 tournament, sophomore Zoi Faki started in her place and had a pretty great match (12K, 23D). Unfortunately, Faki never really developed beyond that, RS-FR VVG took off in the spring of 2021, and Faki ended up playing her final season of eligibility at SDSU.
Flood is a junior here and she's currently 4th on the depth chart at OH, and at least 1-2 of the new recruits are going to pass her by. I'm sure Fisher is glad to keep her here, but she could probably start on some D1 team if she wanted to. I have no reason to claim she WILL or SHOULD leave, just that she would be the most likely given her usage.
For those who don't remember, Pitt had a MB named Anastasia Russ from Hampton. She was hopelessly buried behind our other MBs, so she transferred to Maryland where she had a pretty monster year and made All-B1G 2nd Team. I'm not suggesting Flood is All-B1G material, but she could play a lot more anywhere but Pittsburgh.
