No. 2 Pitt kept rolling Friday night, and Olivia Babcock kept making the biggest plays look routine.
The Panthers swept Cal 25-19, 25-16, 25-20 in the first-ever ACC match at Victory Heights Arena, running their winning streak to five straight sweeps and improving to 11-0. Babcock powered the attack with 18 kills on .429 hitting and added five blocks, but the night belonged just as much to her serve. Her five aces were her most since Nov. 17, 2024 against Miami, and every one of them came on the jump topspin serve that can flip a set in a hurry.
That serve was the separator all night. It sparked Cal overpasses in the opening set that Blaire Bayless turned into kills.
It fueled a 6-0 run in the second set that pushed Pitt ahead 13-4. And it opened the third set with a 5-0 burst that forced a Cal timeout.
“We can't have her hit 100 balls in practice then serve another 50,” coach Dan Fisher said. “We want her topspinning if she's feeling good. There have been times she's felt out of rhythm and I've told her to stay down, or she says 'hey, I don't feel it today,' because she also has a very effective float.”
Babcock’s broader future remains a major storyline, even if it wasn’t the night’s focus. On the Welcome To The Party podcast released earlier this week, she said she still doesn’t know whether she’ll be back in Pittsburgh after this season.
She has nine more home matches left before the NCAA Tournament, and then the decision arrives. Her choices, as she laid them out, are to stay at Pitt for a fifth year, turn pro in the United States, or play professionally overseas.
“I am asking the same question. I have no idea,” Babcock told the podcast, which is hosted by Abby Wambach, Julie Foudy, and Billie Jean King.
“I have a lot of options, all good options, though. This is positive stress.
I don't think I can make the wrong decision.”
Later, she added: “I feel like every single option is really good,” Babcock said. “So that's kind of why I'm so scared to make that decision -- because there's no bad decisions. So I have no idea what I'm going to do.”
For now, Pitt can keep leaning on her. Bayless said Babcock was “back there bombing from the service line,” and that was a fair description of the night. Bayless added 10 kills on .308 hitting, including a pair of quick swings off Babcock-induced overpasses that she called “a fun little moment between the two of us, for sure.”
Cal had answers in spots, especially from first-year pin hitter Abby Zimmerman, who finished with 11 kills and 10 digs and served aggressively. But Pitt controlled the match, and the home crowd helped set the tone in what Bayless called a special atmosphere.
“It was pretty awesome that we were able to sell out both games this weekend,” Bayless said. “You could definitely feel the energy from the fans.”
In the middle, sophomore Abbey Emch made her own case with a match-high nine blocks, one shy of her career high. She said the work starts long before match night.
“I think it's all [improving]. Getting over on time, getting my hands on the ball,” Emch said. “We work a lot on blocking in every practice: just being on time, max jumping.”
Fisher has mixed and matched his middles at times, using Emch along with Dutch freshman Maaike Heilig and transfer Jordyn Dailey depending on the set. But Friday pointed again to Emch as Pitt’s best defensive option in the middle.
Passing was another bright spot. Fisher said, “We had a lot of perfect passes on the night,” and sophomore Izzy Masten had one of her best serve-receive performances yet, putting up 8 dimes on her first 8 passes. Bayless has been the team’s most consistent passer this season, entering the night with a 2.26 passer rating and 60% good passes according to Volleymetrics, and she said the group’s confidence comes from its ability to keep the offense moving even when the pass isn’t spotless.
“We don't have to be perfect,” Bayless said. “At the end of the day, we just need good passes. With the hitters we have and with Izzy [Starck] setting...even if they're a little off the net, we can still get really good offense from there.”
Pitt’s next test comes Sunday in a nationally televised matchup against No. 12 Stanford at 8:30 PM on ESPN.
Stanford is making its second trip to Pittsburgh in the past month after coming through the Petersen Events Center during the Opening Spike Classic four weeks ago, when it beat No. 6 Wisconsin and No.
19 Kansas in back-to-back 3-1 wins.
The Cardinal enter at 7-4 after a non-conference schedule that sent them across the country and included losses to No. 16 Texas A&M at Walt Disney World, No.
14 Penn State at The Palestra in Philadelphia, and No. 9 Arizona State in San Luis Obispo, Calif.
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