No. 4 Pitt (ACC 4-1, 12-3) suffered its first conference loss to No. 18 Miami (15-1, ACC 5-0) in a grueling five-set match.
Starting with a comfortable two-set lead, the easy victory Pitt fans have come to expect slipped farther and farther out of the Panthers’ reach later into the night. The Hurricanes, led by junior outside hitter Floramarie Heredia Colon, effectively ended Pitt volleyball’s 12-game winning streak by reverse sweeping the Panthers.
Give them their flowers
Unsurprisingly, junior opposite hitter Olivia Babcock led the Panthers’ offense, netting a season-high 30 kills on 52 swings, hitting an outstanding 0.519. Continuing with her impressive defensive development, Babcock also contributed four blocks and led the match with 14 digs. Although this isn’t the first match in which Pitt’s right-side hitter has single-handedly earned nearly half of the total kills for the team, it wasn’t enough to stop Miami.
A perfect storm
Miami, similarly to Pitt, came into the match undefeated in conference play. Before this match, the ‘Canes had yet to drop a single set in ACC play — something that is reminiscent of the Panthers’ 2024 squad. Miami also leads the ACC in total aces so far this season, which it proved with its eight service aces over the course of the match.
Heredia Colon easily had her best game of the season, leading the match in kills, attacks and total points. The Dominican Republic native set a new career and program-high with 38 total kills on 73 swings, hitting 0.342.
While these stats are extremely impressive, it was obvious that Miami’s setters were favoring Colon because of the absence of the ‘Canes’ other leading scorer, junior outside hitter Ava Carney, due to injury. The player with the second most kills for Miami was Jazmin Vergara with six kills on 20 swings, nowhere near the numbers Colon was putting up. It was evident by the end of the match that Colon was thoroughly exhausted, but her composure never slipped, reminding fans why she’s number one in the nation for points per set.
The first set was extremely hard-fought between the two teams, and Pitt narrowly pulled ahead to take the set 26-24. The Panthers continued to handily win the second set 25-14. However, a switch flipped in the minds of the ‘Canes as they rallied to take the third and fourth sets, 25-22 and 25-19, respectively, sending the game to five sets. Despite the back-and-forth between the two teams, Miami ended up on top, winning the fifth set 15-13.
By the numbers
Surprisingly, the Panthers ended the match hitting 0.293, whereas in their only other two losses this season, they hit 0.111 and 0.186 — significantly lower — against Nebraska and Florida, respectively.
Even in the fifth and final set of the game, Pitt was hitting 0.571. Miami managed to recover from its 0.065 and -0.077 hitting percentages — largely due to the blocking efforts of redshirt senior middle blocker Bre Kelley — and hit a game-changing 0.500 in the third. Unfortunately for the Panthers, they couldn’t close the gap once again.
Pitt’s siding-out percentage, which head coach Dan Fisher has remarked as wanting to keep in the high 60s and 70s, slipped to 57.8%, narrowly beating Miami’s 56.6%.
What’s next for the Panthers?
The Panthers, remaining in Florida, will travel to Tallahassee to face off against Florida State on Sunday, Oct. 12 at 3:00 p.m. The game is available to stream on ESPN.
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