Five-time NCAA champion Nebraska, this season’s top-ranked team in women’s volleyball, swept the Pitt Panthers, 3-0 (25-20, 25-23, 25-17), in the first national semifinal match Thursday night at Amalie Arena to spoil the Panthers third straight trip to the Final Four.
The Panthers (29-5) have never beaten the Huskers in 14 all-time meetings, including a loss to the Huskers in a national semi two years ago in Columbus, Ohio. That match two years triggered a run of three straight final four appearances for the Panthers.
“I think, in terms of a program, it’s really hard to keep getting better every year, especially when you’ve already been to two Final Fours,” said Pitt coach Dan Fisher. “But I think we have and I think we’re as good as we’ve ever been.”
A service ace by senior Cat Flood of Wilmette, lllinois, in the opening set gave the Panthers an early 3-2 lead, but it would be the last lead Pitt would enjoy in the match. The Huskers (33-1) grabbed the first-set lead for good, 10-9, on a kill by outside hitter Harper Murray, the Big Ten freshman of the year.
But in a women’s volleyball final four peppered with outstanding freshmen making an immediate impact with their respective teams, Panthers outside hitter Olivia Babcock of Los Angeles, the AVCA national freshman of the year, cut the Huskers margin to one, 15-14, with a kill.
Any sense of an opening set comeback by the Panthers, however, was dashed when Babcock followed that up with a service error. With serving as one of her strengths, Babcock entered the match as the Panthers leader in service aces (50) this season.
“I feel like I really was coming into this and I was going to have a great serving match,” said Babcock. “I was disappointed in myself because I felt I kept letting my team down.”
With the Huskers relying on five freshmen, both teams acknowledged that their players appeared nervous on the big stage.
“For us, that manifested into a lot of errors,” said Fisher.
But as the match progressed, the quality of play got better. The problem for the Panthers was playing a top-notch defensive team that held Pitt to a .137 hitting average for the match. Leading up to the semis, the Husker held teams to a .134 average fore the season, the best in the country.
It was a sad ending for the Panthers, but if there’s any consolation for them, they can look to this year’s defending champion Texas Longhorns. They went to the Final Four three straight years from 1986-’88 without reaching the title match.
Now the Longhorns are a two-time NCAA champion and also playing in this year’s Final Four.
