Pitt’s first real road challenge of the season came with a hostile crowd, a tied match and a whole lot of trouble. Then the No. 2 Panthers settled in and took control.
Against No. 24 BYU in Provo, Pitt dropped the second set but steadied itself from there to win 25-23, 24-26, 25-15, 25-20 on Friday night. The Panthers improved to 5-0, while BYU - which had hit .382 through the first two sets and controlled most of that stretch - was held to .082 over the final two.
The setting made the comeback even more impressive. Pitt had to play the last two sets directly in front of BYU’s loud student section, with 5,073 fans in the building. By the end of the night, the volume had faded and Pitt had found the edge it needed.
The turning point came in the third set, when the Panthers ripped out to an 8-2 lead, their biggest margin of the match at that point. Ayanna Watson and Olivia Babcock started that surge with back-to-back aces, and Pitt’s serve-receive cleaned up while the defense tightened. BYU managed only seven kills in the entire set, and Izzy Starck guided Pitt to a dominant 25-15 win.
"Izzy and I have been working a lot on our connection in the practice gym," outside hitter Blaire Bayless told the Big 12 broadcast. "So it was really fun to come out and showcase that to an away opponent."
Starck was at the center of one of the most balanced attacks Pitt has put together under Dan Fisher. That balance mattered, especially after Babcock’s four attack errors in the second set helped open the door for BYU to steal the lone set it won.
Still, the final numbers told the story of a team that can score from several spots on the floor:
- Babcock: 16 kills on 43 swings (.233 hitting)
- Bayless: 16 kills - tying her career high - on 32 swings (.406)
- Watson: 14 kills - a new high - on 35 swings (.257), including back-to-back-to-back kills to win the opening set
It marked the first time since Pitt’s reverse sweep of Louisville on Nov. 18, 2023, that three Panthers pin hitters each finished with at least 14 kills. That night, Babcock had 23, Torrey Stafford 21 and Valeria Vazquez Gomez 15.
The faces around Babcock are different now. The setter is different.
So are the middles, and they chipped in too, with Maaike Heilig and Abbey Emch adding six kills apiece on Friday. Even with Babcock not at her sharpest early, Pitt showed it can settle into a rhythm without leaning on one hitter for everything.
Babcock still reached a milestone in a match that wasn’t her cleanest. She moved past Wendy Hatlestad into third on Pitt’s all-time kills list with 1,695.
Pitt is unlikely to see many road settings tougher than Provo this season. There’s no trip to Louisville, no cramped gym at Miami. The matchup in Atlanta comes in Georgia Tech’s basketball arena, and SMU could bring its own edge next month.
For now, though, Pitt handled the test. After being pushed early, the Panthers found another gear on defense, with nine different players recording at least two digs, and they backed it up with a balanced attack. The trip in Utah isn’t over yet - Pitt still faces Utah in Salt Lake City on Sunday night - but the Panthers already have a strong road win to add to their 2026 résumé.
In Other News...
Pitt Fans Still Won't Believe How Brutal This Hit Was
A November 16, 2023 night at Acrisure Stadium still lingers in the memory of Pitt fans for one reason beyond the final score. The Panthers beat Boston College 24-16, but the second quarter brought a hit so violent that officials stopped play immediately and flagged the moment before the crowd had a chance to settle.
Malcolm Epps was in the air and defenseless when the collision came, turning a routine-looking play into one of the more jarring sequences of the game. Boston College defensive back Khari Johnson was ejected for targeting, and the image of that contact has stuck around long after the Panthers moved on from the win. [Read more 🡒]