A Farewell to Fitz, Home of Pitt's Dominance
In which I chronicle Pitt Volleyball bringing noise and excellence to the final years of Fitzgerald Field House.
I've only ever experienced Fitzgerald Field House as a volleyball venue.
Neither of my parents went to Pitt, and my older siblings were not Pitt fans. I pretty much took up the fandom myself, which Mom and Dad then failed to discourage. They ran into Walt Harris and talked their way into a practice facility visit for me. They let me skip school in March as men's hoops returned to prominence. Dad bought season tickets for football starting with Pitt's golden era of wide receivers.
But all of that happened after Pitt Stadium closed and the Petersen Events Center rose in its place. I never attended a basketball game at the Field House, and I'm not much of a wrestling or gymnastics fan. So the entirety of my memories of Fitz have occurred over these last seven years featuring a net of 7 feet, 4 1/8 inches plopped in the middle.
And oh, what memories they've been.
So with Pitt Volleyball headed to the Pete for Wednesday's home finale and any NCAA Tournament matches that follow, and to the new Victory Heights arena next year, here are some moments that I was there to witness, non-exhaustive but prominent in my mind:
2018: An Unbeaten Pitt Beats Louisville
The first match I ever attended remains one of the most exciting.
An undefeated Pitt team (21-0) won the first two sets over Louisville, including the second in extra points, but dropped the third 28-26.
When Louisville went up 16-6 in the fourth set, it all seemed to be slipping away, but Pitt responded with a 15-1 run(!!) to take the lead and cruise to victory – all in front of a new program record crowd of 2,138.
I would have never known it was the start of Louisville Volleyball becoming one of my mortal enemies.
2019: Pitt Hits the National Scene
I was hooked, and the price was right... for season tickets, that is.
A mere $45 got me a flex plan of 15 tickets (to cover 15 home matches), a seat cushion gift, and later an invitation for me and a guest to a brunch buffet before the Penn State match. All for $3/game. The VALUE!
One home match in particular felt like Pitt had arrived nationally: when the Oregon Ducks flew in for a nationally-televised (ESPNU, but still) Wednesday night matchup – the first match ever at the Field House with both teams in the Top 10. Nika Markovic and Kayla Lund each grabbed 14 kills, and the Panthers took the match.
That Oregon team turned out to be lousy, but Pitt was in the volleyball spotlight to stay.
Spring of 2021: A Return to the Field House
You read here last week about the weirdness of the 2020-21 season. It was March 15, 2021 when I finally got an email from Pitt offering socially-distant seats for real, live humans to replace the cardboard cutouts that had filled the Field House for months.
Nine days later, I masked up and watched Pitt sweep West Virginia. The match itself was a cakewalk (the first set was a 25-8 win), but I and 236 other devotees got a bit of normalcy back.
My Mom joined me the following Sunday for a sweep of UNC. Later that week, both of us got our first Covid shots at a converted Dillard's store in Boardman, Ohio. We were on our way out of the pandemic.
Fall of 2021: Clinching Their First Final Four
With Mom back in tow, we walked into the Field House again on the 11th of December... and I was terrified.
Something always went wrong for Pitt in the NCAA Tournament. In 2018, Kayla Lund got hurt in the opening match of the tournament, and the Panthers lost to Michigan the next day. In 2019, former Olympian Jordan Thompson engineered an upset of #6 Pitt. But those were both at the Pete!
This time around, the Panthers were in their true home at Fitz. Thanks to the finest transfers in program history to that point -- Leketor Member-Meneh and Serena Gray, who led the way with 21 kills and 14 kills apiece -- Pitt smoothly dispatched perennial power Purdue to reach its first-ever Final Four.
Over this last half-decade, I've felt a few moments of true relief: Yes, I got the job. Yes, Rachel loved me too. And yes, Pitt Volleyball would finally be going to the Final Four.
2022: Big Crowds, Bigger Wins
Even as Pitt Volleyball rose in prominence, Steelers Sundays were usually a struggle to attract big crowds. But Pitt had a primo matchup at the same time as the Steelers' home opener in 2022, as 2,433 fans packed the Field House for #12 Pitt vs. #5 Ohio State. The Panthers swept the Buckeyes on 15 kills from star transfer Courtney Buzzerio, giving Pitt its first ever Top 5 home victory.
In October, an even bigger Sunday crowd of 2,686 filed in for Pitt to face #2 Louisville (the Steelers were kind enough to have a night game that day). Despite dominant victories of 25-15 and 25-13 in the first two sets and a 16-11 lead in the 3rd, the Cardinals wrestled away the next two sets and forced a 5th. The Panthers finally prevailed in the finale, with Buzzerio notching 22 kills on the match, giving Pitt its highest ranked win ever.
2023: The Year of the Comeback
In October, the Panthers were on the precipice of a rare home loss when #11 Georgia Tech won the first two sets by the same score: 25-23. But Pitt battled back to earn a reverse sweep, electrifying the Field House – and I thought, "I just saw the greatest comeback win I'll ever see in this place."
That statement was proven wrong a little over two months later.
Pitt sold out of tickets to the Sweet Sixteen and Elite Eight in just 15 minutes, and boy were those ticket buyers ready to cheer when Pitt came back from two sets down to send the match to the 5th. I was seated right next to the Louisville section and watched the hope in their eyes slip away as the Panthers went up 9-3 in the 5th en route to victory.
Pitt was on its way to a third straight Final Four, rung in by the loudest Field House crowd I ever heard.
The epic battles will stay in my mind for a long time. But I'll also remember dominant win after dominant win after dominant win after dominant win. Pitt fans rarely walked out of the Field House with sour faces over the last eight seasons --
- 2017: 12-1
- 2018: 17-0
- 2019: 13-0
- 2020-21: 8-1
- 2021: 12-2
- 2022: 12-1
- 2023: 13-1
- 2024: 13-0
- 2025: 10-0
That's a home record of 110-6, a ridiculous .948 winning percentage.
The caveat is that in recent years Pitt moved most of its Top 10 matchups and tournament hosting to the Pete, so the matches at Fitz became mostly cupcakes – but you do need to eat those cupcakes to stay high in the rankings.
I've gone on and on about my joy at the Fitzgerald Field House, but we can close it out with some Instagram stories from Pitt players past of their home for years of practices and competitions, joining Dan Fisher to raise a program from an also-ran to a powerhouse:
Jenna Jacobson Konrad (Setter, 2012-15)
Angela Seman (Libero, 2015-18)
Layne Van Buskirk (Middle, 2016-19)
Kayla Lund (Outside, 2017-21)
Emmy Klika (Libero, 2021-24)
Farewell to the Field House (for volleyball) – see you all at the Pete on Wednesday.
[Note: A previous version had the incorrect record for Pitt at the Field House in 2024 – the Panthers went 13-0, which is now reflected in the numbers. Pitt Volleyball ended its run at the Field House on a 36-match winning streak.]
