Olivia Babcock Saves The Day Again

Olivia Babcock played so bad.

Oh, sorry. That's not my assessment. That was hers, at least in the immediate aftermath of her leading Pitt to a five-set, three-hour marathon victory at North Carolina.

Even though Babcock broke her own program record by totaling 45 kills, she was confounded when Pitt Volleyball's media rep Charissa Coleman directed her to the broadcast table for a post-match interview.

"I looked at Charissa and I said, 'Why do they want me here? I played so bad,'" Babcock told the ACCN announcers. "But I guess you do get caught up in the mistakes. I didn't realize what was going on, I was just so happy that my team was able to pull out the win."

It was two weeks ago Sunday that Babcock willed the Panthers to a five-set win in Louisville, the first time Babcock broke Pitt's single-match kills record – 41 kills and 8 errors for a .423 hitting percentage. Babcock's belief that she played poorly yesterday stemmed from the extra hitting errors this time (15 of them, to make it .357 hitting on the day). But many of those errors were of the UNC-knows-the-ball-is-going-your-way-so-they're-sending-all-of-their-blockers-at-you variety.

"I made a few too many errors, and I thought they were going dip [my teammates'] trust," Babcock said. "But that's not the type of team we are. And I think every single time, even if I made a mistake, I just looked at my teammates and they said 'We trust you. We're going to keep feeding you.' So I feel like having them believe in me is exactly what helped me keep taking those big rips."

If I try to recap this match blow by blow, I'll get too frustrated. Pitt's own recap and my Bluesky thread should suffice.

In short, UNC picked apart Pitt's serve-receive (9 aces to Pitt's 1), made some terrific shots and held their own in the block against the Panthers' other attackers – the rest of the Panthers not named Babcock hit .183 on the afternoon.

Jackie Taylor won the 2nd for UNC with an ace-Pitt timeout-ace-Pitt timeout-ace run late in the set, and UNC's leading scorer Safi Hampton was a beast in a big 4th-set comeback for the Tar Heels – Pitt led that one 23-20 before a 6-1 UNC run took the set and kept the Heels alive. Lauren Schutter had a career high 13 total blocks on the powder blue side.

Defensively, Pitt's Mallorie Meyer (21 digs) and Brooke Mosher (14 digs) stepped up and Ryla Jones grabbed 10 blocks included a solo-and-staredown late in the 4th that provided one of the match's million momentum shifts.

"We just said 'they're going to make their great plays, but so are we, so don't let theirs stop our momentum,'" Babcock said. "I think at the end, they definitely gained a lot of momentum, and we just figured it out when it mattered at the end."

Overall, it was Olivia Babcock's day. Pepper in 8 digs and 6 blocks to her Atlas-like carrying of the Panthers' offense (Blaire Bayless was second on the team with 11 kills to Babcock's 45), and it was a career day in an already-spectacular career.

She's the favorite to be National Player of the Year once again, even if Nebraska fans protest. Give it up. The Cornhuskers are the best team in the nation, especially after Texas took two losses this weekend, but Olivia Babcock – with her Superwoman heroics – is the best player.

Pitt fans, you weren't the only ones who noticed the shoddy officiating on Sunday.

"We were obviously getting upset with some of the reffing," Babcock said after the match. "We were getting upset with ((pauses)) just everything."

If this wasn't the worst refereeing I've seen in 2025, it was certainly the worst of a nationally-televised contest. Straightforward in-or-out calls were missed far too often. "Was that a touch?" Who knows? They sure didn't. And a frustrating 4th set was compounded by the fact that Pitt head coach Dan Fisher ran out of challenges early in the frame.

It's too much to ask all 348 Division I volleyball schools to install an expensive Hawk-Eye system for in/out calls. Hell, it's probably too much to ask that all 67 Power Four schools install one.

Eventually, though, we need to see some progress being made. Sharper cameras. More camera angles for matches on National TV. A hub for replay reviews instead of on-site referees challenging their own initial judgment. Some upgrades for the venues that host the NCAA Tournament would be a great start.

Olivia Babcock got in the record books in another way: her 84 attacks were the most by a Pitt Panther since 2004. Looking back at the last six matches:

• at Notre Dame: 71 swings
• at Louisville: 78 swings
• vs. NC State: 23 swings
• vs. Wake Forest: 25 swings
• at Duke: 23 swings
• at North Carolina: 84 swings

Obviously you lighten the load for Babcock when you sweep the worse teams, and the Panthers have more opportunities to do that in November. Pitt gets an easier weekend at home coming up, with matches against Virginia Tech (212th in the RPI, last of the 18 ACC teams) and Virginia (122nd in the RPI, 13th in the ACC).

Actually, the rest of the Panthers' schedule lines up well for managing Babcock's arm. After they head out west for the big match against co-ACC leader Stanford, they play a lousy Cal team in Berkeley, and come back home for a weekend against Syracuse and Boston College (two mediocre teams in the 100s of RPI). Then it's the big Thanksgiving Eve battle at the Pete against Louisville – where Pitt is already asking you to plan your outfit for Stripe The Pete.

All in all, Pitt has a doable balance of matches where Babcock can (hopefully) take it easy, and a couple big showdowns where they may need her to prep her right rotator cuff once again.