Pitt's Rookies Show Off in Weekend of Sweeps

A little over two weeks ago I was thinking "Pitt's actually had some good injury luck this season." While other teams were losing key players – especially Minnesota – Pitt was staying healthy.

Whoops!

On October 12, Dagmar Mourits' right foot landed on the heel of a Florida State player, putting her in a walking boot.

One week later, Bre Kelley took an unexpected knock to the back of the head from a Brooke Mosher topspin serve on the second-to-last play of the Louisville match. Kelley then delivered the winning kill, but she's been out ever since.

You would expect Pitt to sweep N.C. State and Wake Forest – two teams ranked in the 100s of RPI – and they did. The Panthers grabbed two home wins over homecoming weekend without allowing 20 points in any set. Even better, they did it while giving some first-year players more opportunities.

Even without two of their best players, Pitt rolled to quick victories, hitting .374 against Wake and .356 against NCSU. Importantly, they were able to do so without being overly reliant on Olivia Babcock. It was a light weekend for Pitt's superstar after possibly the heaviest weekend of her career:

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

For a young arm that is averaging more than 40 swings per match, some easier matches were important. Not that Babcock didn't make an impact in the process – on Sunday she got a match-high 16 kills on those 25 attacks, good for a bonkers .560 hitting percentage.

Overall, though, this was a chance for secondary scoring options to play a role as primary scorers.

Rookie Cards Gaining Value

It was the best weekend of Marina Pezelj's rookie season. Pezelj could be a candidate for ACC Freshman of the Week thanks to her 20 kills on .333 hitting, 13 digs and 4 service aces. From my view, Pezelj's attacks were sharper than they have ever been.

Pitt head coach Dan Fisher said when Mourits went down two weeks ago, it was coincidentally at the same time that Pezelj started to look her best: "In the weight room she was jump-touching as high as she has all year, so I think physically she's as good as she's been all year... she's hitting with more range. So, I don't think it's just that she's connecting with the setters, I think she's improving."

From the other pin, Babcock sees it too – and saw Pezelj out-score her on Friday night on fewer attacks.

"I feel like we're just seeing her become more confident every single time she steps on the court and just taking charge," Babcock said Sunday of the freshman from Monaco. "It's very clear that she wants to be set. She wants to be served. And she wants them to hit to her so she can dig the ball. I just feel like that mindset is obviously what's helping her progress at such a quick rate."

With Bre Kelley out for the first time all season, Fisher cycled in both Dalia Vîrlan and freshman Abbey Emch at middle blocker and said that "they both took advantage of their opportunities," and I can see Emch showing some secret-weapon capabilities attacking high above the net (being 6'4 will help with that).

Coming into the season, Emch wasn't exactly a top scoring option. But she pulled off some of the best slide attacks I've seen from Pitt's middles so far; clearly she has found a connection with setter Brooke Mosher. Emch now leads the Panthers with a .531 hitting percentage, albeit in a small sample size.

Both Pezelj and Emch have international experience: Pezelj with the French National Team, Emch over the summer helping the United States to a silver medal at the U19 World Championship.

Matches against underwhelming ACC opponents are the prime opportunities for players further down the depth chart to show off, and the youngsters took advantage.

Kelley should be back soon. Mourits ought to be back by the end of the regular season, according to coach Dan Fisher. When they return, Pezelj and Emch will likely become scoring depth once again, but such depth could be important for a long tournament run. You want opponents to be worried about as many threats as possible – I'd worry about these Pitt rookies if I were them.

Your Generosity! Incredible!

On Friday, I asked for your help in raising some urgently needed money for the Greater Pittsburgh Community Food Bank. And... uh... boy did you deliver.

I hoped to raise $1,390 by the end of the weekend, thinking that my modest audience on here and Bluesky could get us there.

Instead, we broke $1,390 less than two hours after I published. Now we've more than doubled our original goal, raising enough money to provide more than 8,000 meals for our neighbors.

Friends have donated. Family members of donated. Pitt Bluesky has moooore than donated. If you have the ability during this time, I humbly ask for you to donate as well.

On Sunday, I received a lovely note from Sarah, a member of the Community Fundraising at the Food Bank thanking us for our fundraiser. Your generosity is getting noticed! Help us keep the momentum going.