Is Pittsburgh Getting a Pro Volleyball Team?

Pittsburgh may be in line for a professional volleyball franchise in the near-future, according to Pitt Volleyball head coach Dan Fisher.

Fisher told 93.7 The Fan on Tuesday that there are “some rumors of a pro [volleyball] team in Pittsburgh” but said he couldn’t add anything further.

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His comments were the first I had heard about the possibility of a Pittsburgh pro team, and while his comments seem ambiguous, he said almost the same thing to deflect questions about Pitt playing Penn State this fall. (That match is happening Wednesday, Sept. 17 at Rec Hall — Penn State already announced it.)

The soonest we could see professional volleyball in Pittsburgh would be in early 2026. Let’s give you the lay of the land for pro volleyball in the United States, which has three leagues and a fourth on the way:

• Athletes Unlimited (AU) is more of a showcase than a traditional league. They'll be playing their matches in volleyball-crazy Omaha, Nebraska and Madison, Wisconsin this fall.
• League One Volleyball (LOVB, pronounced “love,” no follow-up questions) wrapped up its first season this spring with six franchises and the deepest pool of American talent.
• Pro Volleyball Federation (PVF) finished its second season in May with eight franchises and rosters comprised mostly of recent college graduates.
• Major League Volleyball (MLV) is set to start play in 2026 after poaching the PVF’s biggest box-office draw - the Omaha Supernovas.

Overall, the landing spots for franchises have been less about pure market size and more about serving cities with a demonstrated interest in women’s volleyball — thus Omaha (Nielsen TV Market #73), Madison (Market #77) and Austin (Market #34). There’s no doubt Pittsburgh has attracted attention with Pitt Volleyball selling out match after match.

“You want to have cities and markets where there’s an interest in the sport,” PVF vice president of public and media relations Rob Carolla told Pittsburgh City Paper in December. “That obviously exists very well in Pittsburgh, and with what’s going on at Pitt — that factors into the interest. Pretty good support for the sport itself, that doesn’t hurt.”

Colton Coreschi’s piece for City Paper is worth your read, as it lays out the case for why Pittsburgh would be a good market for pro volleyball.

Major League Volleyball seems to be the most likely landing spot for a Pittsburgh team. Although MLV’s initial announcement of franchises in January did not include a team in Pennsylvania, it did say that the league would launch with “a minimum of 10 teams from across the United States.” [emphasis added] That could open the door for a 12-team start if enough interest and money is rolling in.

If I were a betting man, I’d wager that a pro team would play its matches at the new Pitt Victory Heights Arena, slated to open this coming winter after the Pitt Volleyball season, and/or the UPMC Cooper Fieldhouse on Duquesne’s campus. Both would provide a nice sweet spot of 3,500 seats and modern amenities to provide a strong atmosphere for an expansion team (but less expensive rent than PPG Paints Arena).

There’s an untapped market for professional women’s sports in Pittsburgh, demonstrated mere weeks ago when the semi-pro Pittsburgh Riveters debuted to a sellout crowd of 6,077 fans for what is essentially a collegiate summer league.

We’ll see where the rumor mill churns, but a future pro team would do well to start some conversations Pitt fan-favorite alumni like Kayla Lund, Rachel Fairbanks, Chiamaka Nwokolo and Valeria Vazquez Gomez.

Pitt Volleyball’s schedule mostly finished

Despite Coach Fisher’s (strange) protestations in his 93.7 The Fan interview, we now know almost all of Pitt’s 2025 schedule, thanks to previous announcements and other team’s schedules. Here you go!

• Friday, Aug. 22 - at Nebraska
• Saturday, Aug. 24 - vs. Florida (in Lincoln, NE)
• Sunday, Aug. 31, 2 PM - vs. TCU (at PPG Paints Arena)
• Monday. Sept. 1, 7:30 PM - vs. Arizona State (at PPG Paints Arena)
• Sept. 5 - 7 Weekend TBD
• Wednesday, Sept. 10, 6:30 PM - vs. Kentucky (in Fort Worth, TX)
• Sept. 12 - 14 Weekend TBD
• Wednesday, Sept. 17 - at Penn State
• Sept. 19 - 21 Weekend TBD
• Wednesday, Sept. 24 - at SMU
• Sunday, Sept. 28 - vs. SMU
• Friday, Oct. 3 - vs. Clemson
• Sunday, Oct. 5 - vs. Georgia Tech
• Friday, Oct. 10 - at Miami
• Sunday, Oct. 12 - at Florida State
• Friday, Oct. 17, 6:30 PM - at Notre Dame
• Sunday, Oct. 19 - at Louisville
• Friday, Oct. 24 - vs. NC State
• Sunday, Oct. 26 - vs. Wake Forest
• Friday, Oct. 31 - at Duke
• Sunday, Nov. 2 - at UNC
• Friday, Nov. 7 - vs. Virginia Tech
• Sunday, Nov. 9 - vs. Virginia
• Friday, Nov. 14 or Saturday, Nov. 15 - at Stanford
• Saturday, Nov. 15 or Sunday, Nov. 16 - at Cal
• Friday, Nov. 21 - vs. Syracuse
• Sunday, Nov. 23 - vs. Boston College
• Thanksgiving Week TBD, likely at Georgia Tech
• Thanksgiving Week TBD, likely vs. Louisville

So that’s most of the schedule, with two non-conference home matches and (likely) two non-conference road matches yet to be finalized. Hopefully Pitt fills those last couple of holes over the next week.

There is some good news for traveling Pitt football fans here too. The Panthers play home football games on Aug. 30 (Duquesne), Sept. 27 (Louisville), Oct. 4 (B.C.) and Oct. 25 (NC State), creating the opportunity for a football/volleyball combo weekend. The more adventurous fan could even do a combo in Tallahassee with the football team playing at Florida State on Saturday, Oct. 11 and the volleyball team facing the Noles the following day.

Stafford’s departure was ‘a shock’

93.7 The Fan’s Joe Starkey asked Dan Fisher directly about outside hitter’s Torrey Stafford departing for Texas this offseason: Was it a surprise? Here is Fisher’s response:

“At the time, it was. She had indicated she was going to stay, and none of the girls really knew, so it was between her family and her agent. She gave us two great years and there’s no hard feelings. She made her decision… She was the first one that left my program unless it was about playing time in the 13 years. It was a shock, but we’re having to deal with what football and basketball does now.”

Fisher’s had more than five months to craft that quote, and the result is pretty good. He’s honest about what went down but maintains the proper perspective: this is life in the NIL era. Texas offered Stafford a deal where she could make more money and be the #1 scoring option (that’s my analysis of the thing, not Fisher’s) and she took it.

Stafford may have been the first to jump for more verdant pastures, but she won’t be the last.

Babcock to take on the world’s best teams — and now it’s televised!

I was prepared to write a segment about what a shame it was that the Volleyball Nations League (VNL) would be happening this summer without a television broadcast. I wanted to point out the ridiculousness that while the college game is growing in huge numbers on TV, the U.S. Women’s National Team would only be available to watch with a paid subscription to Volleyball World.

Thankfully, sanity prevailed.

Volleyball World announced Tuesday that it reached a deal with CBS and Big Ten Network to air the U.S. Women’s National Team matches of the VNL — one day before the first serve. This is excellent news to help attract attention to Team USA, and a fan-friendly one at that!

Here’s where you can watch the first slate of U.S. matches, live from Rio de Janeiro:

• Wednesday, June 4 - vs. Italy - 1 PM Eastern (CBS Sports Network)
• Thursday, June 5 - vs. Brazil - 8 PM (Big Ten Network)
• Friday, June 6 - vs. Czech Republic - 8 PM (CBS Sports Network)
• Sunday, June 8 - vs. South Korea - 4 PM (Big Ten Network)

I’ll be watching with keen interest as reigning National Player of the Year Olivia Babcock gets reps against the best players in the world.

Team USA did not include either of the right-side hitters who helped them to Olympic silver in Paris — no Annie Drews, no Jordan Thompson — which means Babcock should see plenty of action.

Oh by the way, the first two opponents for the U.S. are the gold (Italy) and bronze (Brazil) medalists from last summer. Talk about a step up for Liv from facing Virginia Tech and Wake Forest.

The U.S. will be approaching the VNL differently than other nations. While other nations want to maintain a high world ranking in the lead-up to Olympic qualifiers in 2027, the U.S. has no Olympic concerns — as the host nation, they’re guaranteed a bid and the #1 overall seed in Los Angeles.

While the players certainly want to win, the coaches can feel free to use VNL summers as training and development time, seeing how young players like Babcock stack up against the world’s best competition. For volleyball nerds with time on their hands, Rob St. Claire from Volleyball Source provides good insights in the video below. In short, how the young prospects look will be more important than the win-loss record.

So watch for #24 Olivia Babcock, as well as #43 Serena Gray at middle blocker (and hopefully later this summer, #15 Rachel Fairbanks at setter). These VNL matches represent their first big audition for the 2028 Olympic team.

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