Women’s volleyball is transforming the national sports landscape.
The sport has provided spectacular imagery of sold-out football stadiums and other large venues, including a 2023 Nebraska match that hosted 92,000 fans. As TV viewership has reached new heights, participation among girls has also surged, making the sports second only to track and field in total national participation.
Pitt volleyball is a prime example of this shift locally. The team has catapulted to new heights of popularity as they chase their 4th straight NCAA Final Four appearance.
Despite losses in the National Semifinals in each of the last three seasons, the first appearances in the program’s history, the team has maintained an upward trajectory. They lead NCAA D-1 teams with 192 victories since 2018, all under the tenure of 12th year head coach Dan Fisher. Pitt, which now boasts a record of 23-1 this season, is now ranked #1 in the nation in a poll of coaches across the country.
Last Friday, they played top ACC foe North Carolina at the Fitzgerald Field House in Pittsburgh. As Pitt cruised to a 3-0 victory in front of a sell out crowd, one of a handful this season, it was clear to their rivals how far the program and women’s sports in the region had come.
“I think you're seeing more and more teams that are just doing a really good job promoting the sport. And people come out and they have a blast and they see great athletes playing a great team sport.” North Carolina head coach Mike Schall added, “They're doing a great job here.”
For Pitt coach Fisher, the fact that the sellout win came on the same evening as a Pitt men’s basketball game, a potentially competing event, was especially resonant.
“We have some of the same boosters and some of the same season ticket holders. And obviously for students, it's a competition,” Fisher said. “But I definitely think that we also have a unique fan base that I think we, over the years, have really developed. People that really just love volleyball and that's part of the growth of volleyball in Pittsburgh.”
Against a team known for their unique offensive attack in North Carolina, Pitt stepped up with stellar offensive performances of their own.
“[North Carolina] hit about what they're hitting on the year, they hit .250. But our offensive performance tonight was incredible. You know, when your worst hitting percentage of the night as a hitter is .250, that's pretty amazing,” associate head coach Kellen Petrone said.
Hitting percentage is the number of kills, or unreturned attacking points, minus hitting errors and then divided by the total number of attempts. This percentage is an important measure of how efficient each player on the team is. According to Petrone, each player on the Pitt team matched or exceeded their North Carolina counterparts.
Petrone explained that expanding volleyball knowledge to new fans has been a tangible product of the team’s success in the past five years.
“It's a sport that you can easily fall in love with and you can get addicted to. And so whenever we convince someone, or someone comes out for the first time to a game, they usually end up coming back to a bunch more.” Petrone added “It's important to us that when we have big crowds, that we put a good product out on the court because we want people to feel like they're getting their money's worth.”
Pitt assistant coach Kamalani Akeo said the chants and engagement of fans is an additional source of motivation for her players.
“Especially now, they kind of know what's going on. They know when the energy shifts and they know when to start cheering ‘Let's go Pitt’, when we lose a couple of points in a row,” Akeo said.
Fans of Pitt volleyball have been treated to an especially high quality of play this year as the Atlantic Coast Conference expansion absorbed top teams like SMU, Stanford and Cal. The teams not only expanded the geographical reach of the conference, but also have helped prepare top contenders, like Pitt, for NCAA tournament participation later in the season.
Senior Emmy Klika is Pitt’s defensive specialist and libero, a position that wears a different colored jersey and remains in the back portion of the court to defend against opponent attacks. She said the team is appreciative of the opportunity to prepare for a potential 4th consecutive Final Four appearance with challenging regular season opponents.
“Obviously the ACC is very tough this year. It's really fun to have that challenge every weekend to play these ranked teams,” Klika added: “We're going to play this level of team in the tournament. So it's a good experience for us to have that mentality and prepare for the teams we're going to see in December because we're going to see ranked teams game in, game out.”
As much as Pitt women’s volleyball is now defined by its poise and commitment to preparing for postseason play, Coach Akeo, who led the team as a player from 2015-2018, explained that the team’s success and the continued support of fans are personal for her.
“Being the top women's team at the university, and probably the top women’s team in the city, it means the world to me.” She added, “I played here. I went to Pitt. It was not always this way. And to see where we've come from … it's really special. We don't take it for granted.”
The team is back in action at home this weekend with Florida State visiting on Friday night Nov. 15, and Miami on Sunday afternoon Nov. 17.
