Virginia Falls To No. 1 Pittsburgh, 3-0

CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. – In front of a record crowd at Memorial Gymnasium, the Virginia volleyball team (17-5, 7-4 ACC) fell to No. 1 Pittsburgh (20-1, 10-1 ACC) in three sets (9-25, 9-25, 15-25) on Friday evening.

The attendance of 1,150 is the largest crowd to watch a volleyball match in Memorial Gymnasium’s history, surpassing the previous record of 1,108 set against Virginia Tech in 2022.

Abby Tadder led all Cavaliers with eight kills on the evening, while Kate Johnson collected a team-best eight digs.

Pittsburgh’s Torrey Stafford and Olivia Babcock each had a match-high 11 kills. To go along with her 11 kills, Babcock also tallied a match-best five blocks.

  HOW IT HAPPENED   

Set 1: Pittsburgh 25, Virginia 9

The visiting Panthers scored the opening nine points of the match before Lauryn Bowie got UVA on the board with a kill. Following another Bowie kill that made it 10-2, Pittsburgh scored the next 11 points. Virginia’s best run of the set started with a Pitt service error at 21-3 as the Cavaliers nabbed six of the next eight points before the Panthers closed out the set with back-to-back kills.

 Set 2:  Pittsburgh 25, Virginia 9

Pittsburgh opened the second set on a 7-0 run before back-to-back kills from Elayna Duprey and Bowie broke up a pair of Panther runs. Duprey briefly took over the match with three straight kills of her own before the top-ranked Panthers ended the set on an 8-1 run.

Set 3: Pittsburgh 25, Virginia 15

In the most competitive set of the night, a Pitt service error opened the scoring for the Cavaliers at 3-1. Virginia clawed back to within five points when Zoey Dood and Lily Gervase teamed up for a block at 12-7. Dood collected the lone Cavalier service ace of the night in the heart of a 4-0 UVA run that cut into the Pitt lead at 15-12. The Panthers answered by claiming the seven points and the match. Four of Tadder’s eight kills came in the third and final set.

MATCH NOTES

• Lily Gervase had a season-high three blocks.
• Zoey Dood set a career-high with six digs.
• With the win, Pitt extends its all-time series lead to 19-3, winning 12 of the previous matches.
• Virginia falls to 0-2 all-time against teams ranked number one.

 UP NEXT  
The Cavaliers will close out the weekend on Sunday (Nov. 3) against No. 12 SMU (16-6, 8-3 ACC) at 2 p.m. inside Memorial Gymnasium. The match will air on ACC Network.