Anything is Possible with Olivia Babcock

Olivia Babcock.

I could end today's newsletter right there.

But since I like to get these things past 800 words...

Olivia Babcock smacked down Pitt's biggest rival over and over again, spraying a program-record 41 kills all over the court to suck the oxygen out of Louisville's tiny gym and deliver the Panthers a marquee comeback victory.

For all of the times in her college career that Babcock has put a match directly on her right shoulder, this one out-shined the rest. Never before had she taken 78 swings in a match (a .423 hitting percentage on that many attacks is absurd), but the Panthers needed every single one, especially in Sets 4 and 5.

"Honestly, I was swinging at everything and whatever happens from there was whatever," Babcock told ESPN after the match. "But I was swinging and they gave me that trust."

And again: this was against LOUISVILLE – a top-10 blocking team that circled this match and honed in on Babcock. The Cardinals subbed in Reese Robins in a few times late in the match specifically to block her, to no avail.

Babcock's heroics papered over a not-so-great performance by the rest of the Panthers, as the rest of the team hit just .212. After a strong opening set, Pitt dug itself early holes (down 11-4 in Set 2, down 8-4 in Set 3) out of which they couldn't crawl. For Louisville, Purdue transfer Chloe Chicoine grabbed 16 kills and freshman Kalyssa Blackshear notched 14 in their introductions to the Pitt-UL rivalry, and Nayelis Cabello scored on 9 of her 10 setter dumps.

"In those second two sets, we kind of slipped up," Babcock said. "But we really just looked at each other and said, 'It's going to take all of us. So just tell yourselves that you're going to do your job – and these next two sets be ready to work.'"

Flowers for Pitt setter Brooke Mosher, who was certainly ready to work. Her 60 assists and 13 digs were season highs, and she made several amazing cross-court sets to find Babcock. Their connection has never looked stronger.

Mosher was right to recognize by the 4th set that her right-side hitter was the only one who could consistently terminate on Sunday. Babcock's 13 kills (with just 2 errors) in a must-win 4th were absolutely crucial, and she personally out-killed the Cardinals 13 to 10 in the 4th set and 6 to 5 in the 5th.

Oh by the way, Babcock added 8 digs and 5 total blocks – including an absolutely lethal solo block to put Pitt up 7-3 in the 5th – as if sending her rotator cuff to the edge of hell wasn't quite enough.

On days like Sunday, it feels like anything is possible for the Fightin' Olivia Babcocks. Could they win a National Championship solely on matches where their junior star grabs the majority of the kills? Maybe!

A recent example: Stanford in 2019 entered the tournament as the #3 overall team, but Kathryn Plummer grabbed hold of the attack. Across their last four matches in December:

• Plummer - 101 kills
• Audriana Fitzmorris - 34 kills
• Madeline Gates - 34 kills

Stanford used that offense and held a massive Wisconsin team to .152 hitting in the final to grab its 9th National Championship (at PPG Paints Arena, no less!).

If I had my druthers, college volleyball would have a trade deadline where Pitt could pick up a six-rotation outside hitter to replace the injured Dagmar Mourits, but hopefully her ankle will be healed in time for December. Blaire Bayless will continue to be the second option, and she did deliver some sharp back-row kills on Sunday.

For now, let's enjoy the greatness that is Olivia Babcock. Years from now when she's throwing down kills in the Olympics and getting a banner with her #5 lifted to the rafters of Victory Heights, we'll remember watching matches like the one on Sunday.

Good News from the Tournament Committee

Another huge moment for Pitt's postseason hopes came right after its opening-set victory: ESPN revealed the NCAA Volleyball tournament committee's midseason Top 16 teams, putting the Panthers at No. 3 in the nation.

As a reminder, the Top 4 teams at the end of the season get to host through the Elite Eight, with this year's Final Four being played in Kansas City. Pitt has grabbed a Top 4 spot in three of their last four seasons, and they're well on their way to making it four out of five.

Pitt is fortunate that the committee weighed its neutral-site sweep of No. 4 Kentucky and season sweep of No. 5 SMU more heavily than its losses to Florida and Miami, two teams that didn't make the Top 16 at all (somewhat surprisingly in Miami's case). Add in the wins over No. 7 Arizona State and No. 9 TCU – and now No. 6 Louisville on the road – and Pitt's resume is looking damn good.

(Side note: big ups to the scheduling job done by Dan Fisher to get Arizona State and TCU to come to PPG Paints Arena back on Labor Day Weekend. I wouldn't have expected both of those teams to be in the committee's Top 10 here in late October, but they are.)

Since the NCAA began awarding regional site hosts to the highest seeds in 2016, home court advantage has indeed been an advantage: Teams with a #3 or #4 overall seed entering the tournament made the Final Four 75% of the time, while the #5 or #6 overall seed only made it 25% of the time. Being on the correct side of that Top 4 can triple your chances of reaching the Final Four.

The Panthers are now in the driver's seat for a Top 4 spot, and Sunday's win affords them some breathing room in the final weeks of the regular season (you could probably shake off a loss after a cross-country trip to Stanford, for instance). If Pitt wins the ACC, they're pretty well-assured to have home cooking through the first four rounds of the NCAA Tournament.

P.S. I didn't watch the reverse sweep of Notre Dame because I was traveling. It didn't sound like a great performance against the RPI #84 team, but at least it had these highlights of Babcock featured on Sunday NFL Countdown:

Pretty cool.