Pitt-Penn State, a volleyball rivalry for a Volleyball School

Well, when Pitt Football lets you down, the Pitt Volleyball bandwagon is always here for you.

At a time when fans are questioning the tenures of Pat Narduzzi on the football side and Jeff Capel on the men's basketball side, Dan Fisher is continually winning and under contract through 2030.

And unlike the football team, Pitt Volleyball is kind enough to wait each year until December to let me down.

More importantly, your timing for bandwagon-hopping is excellent! On Wednesday, Pitt will travel to Penn State for a match against the defending National Champions. But what once seemed like a candidate for the toughest matchup of the season is now looking like one that Pitt really shouldn't lose.

Penn State dropped matches to Arizona State and TCU in Pittsburgh (both teams that Pitt beat on opposite days of the State Farm Volleyball Showcase). Then PSU was swept by Kentucky (Pitt swept 'em last week in Fort Worth, Texas) in its home opener after star setter and National Freshman of the Year Izzy Starck took a pause for her mental health.

If Pitt can slow down Million Dollar Martin on the Penn State side, the Panthers will be headed toward their 8th straight victory.

I don't have a transition here, so this is just for search-engine optimization purposes after last night's Emmy Awards: the pitt, the pitt streaming, pitt tv show, how do i watch the pitt, noah wyle emmys, the pitt where to watch, noah wyle the pitt where i watch, pitt watch, i watch the pitt where help

Pitt – A Program Turning Blue Blood

I like to step back sometimes and look with gratitude on this past half-decade of Pitt Volleyball. Imagine if a Pitt hoops team (men's or women's!) had gone to four straight Final Fours – and had a reigning National Player of the Year like Olivia Babcock – they'd be the toast of the town.

But this is no great complaint: the steady growth of the fanbase has been heartening to witness. Where I once watched program-builders like Kayla Lund, Chinaza Ndee and Stephanie Williams alongside only a few hundred other devotees, now practically every match is packed and rowdy for Babcock, Bre Kelley, Blaire Bayless and other players whose names don't begin with B.

National attention and TV ratings continue to grow as well, even for matches that don't attract the zealots of Nebraska.

Part of the reason I write this newsletter is to share the joy that rooting for this program has brought me. I can't help but proselytize: your soul too can be saved by the power of these six-time ACC champions.

Now is the Time

Look, things aren't going well for Pitt's revenue sports, or for the Pirates or the Steelers. We'll see about the Penguins. If you've been putting off a full leap into Pitt Volleyball fandom, here's your written invitation: six of their next nine matches will be televised (Wednesday's match is on Big Ten Network, plus 3 on flagship ESPN and 2 on ACC Network).

The next home contest is a Petersen Events Center affair on Sunday, Sept. 28, then there are only 8 volleyball matches left in the life of Fitzgerald Field House as it wraps up its seven-plus decades hosting Pitt Athletics.

It has been a delight to have close-to-the-court season tickets over this run of success – and pro tip: if a fellow season-ticket holder doesn't show up, you can sneak into their nice seats. If you spend enough time watching the speed and skill of the game from the 6th row of a cozy-confine Field House, you might also be singing its praises in newsletter form twice weekly.

The Volleyball School will transition to a new home at Victory Heights next season, and I would certainly love to see its opening be the start of an unstoppable sellout streak.

There are very few volleyball schools out there: mostly Big Ten schools that will always be football-first (Nebraska, Wisconsin, Penn State, Minnesota) or... Hawaii. Just because Texas is a volleyball school doesn't mean they'll stop drawing 100,000 people for Saturdays at Darrell K Royal. Pitt being a volleyball school is not Pitt being exclusively a volleyball school.

As a Pitt Football fan, I'll continue to long for the renewal of annual games against Penn State. But until then, an annual Pitt-Penn State volleyball match works well. Here is a matchup that was very close to being the National Championship back in December, and we're getting it here in mid-September. (Isn't it nice that NCAA Volleyball is set up to encourage top teams to play other top teams as many times as possible?)

Hail to Pitt. Beat Penn State... in volleyball.