Welp (x5)

KANSAS CITY – Don't call them the Buffalo Bills. Those '90s Bills teams actually made it to the Super Bowl.

Hey, I don't want to be mean. But when you've traveled to five straight Pitt Volleyball Final Four losses, you're entitled to publish a little gallows humor (or so I've decided).

So why'd they lose this time? Defense. Defense. Defense. Well either that or coach Dan Fisher has been wearing some cursed amulet since 2021. Unlikely.

"We hit for a high enough percentage, that's for sure," Fisher said of his .344-hitting Panthers. "But we were nowhere near as good as we needed to be defensively."

No doubt about it. Pitt was a mess defensively last night. Serve-receive was a struggle, yet overcome-able. But Texas A&M's firepower from the pins — Kyndal Stowers on the left with 16 kills on .433, Logan Lednicky on the right with 14 kills on .323 – was too hot to handle. The ball control that got Pitt through Big Ten foes Michigan, Minnesota and Purdue earlier in the tournament? Absent.

"I mean, offensively, we were great the entire night," said Babcock, who hit an eye-popping .463 on 41 swings. "Normally we're better at getting block touches and we are making more digs... Today I feel that we just weren't up to our standard."

(Those quotes come courtesy of Lee Feinswog's comprehensive and FREE 900 Square Feet newsletter. If you're subscribing to me, subscribe to him.)

The .382 hitting percentage for the Aggies – sorry I keep using that stat, but it's a good catch-all – was the highest a Pitt opponent has posted this season by a full 100 points. The closest prior was Stanford's .282.

Pitt had its chances: The Panthers had set point in the opener up 27-26 but couldn't convert a free-ball opportunity, and the Aggies rolled off three straight points. Freshman Izzy Masten gave 'em a boost in Set 2 with a seven-point serving run to put Pitt up 15-11, but A&M followed with runs of their own and Pitt could not side out. All over but the crying.

So What Now?

Five years brings five different flavors of disappointment. Pitt's lost as an underdog and as a favorite. Pitt's lost in five and they've been swept. Pitt's lost when I've been actively writing a newsletter and when I haven't (so that isn't it – and thank God, imagine writing 'this is our year' pieces for five straight years).

The obvious common denominator is coaching, but (1) you're not going to find me giving sh*t to Dan Fisher, not after all he's done, and (2) if you've got second-level analysis beyond the banal "You've gotta have your team ready to play!" thought, by all means give Fish a call.

You don't want the platitudes any more than I do, but I'd be remiss: Is Pitt 0-5 in the Final Four or 20-5 over the last five NCAA Tournaments? Both, of course – and I'm glad I was there for all of the winning moments (except beating Florida in Madison in the 2022 Sweet 16; that was the only one I didn't attend). Somehow Pitt needs to find the gumption against the top opponents in this big environments.

Again, if you've got the answer to that, by all means send Pitt an email.

I already gave you the Wait Til Next Year routine this time last year, but the truth is 'Wait Til Next Year' is all we've got. (The NCAA won't let us play A&M again, best two of of three... how dare they!) Maybe all of this waiting will make the eventual victory all the sweeter. God, I hope so.

Until then, Pitt Athletics will remain in the odd and unwelcome spot with the likes of Kansas State and Virginia Tech: power-four programs without a team that's won an NCAA-awarded National Championship. While that phrasing may seem to be cutting with a semantic Ginsu knife, since Pitt Football has won itself several National Titles (you can't trick me into saying the exact number!), it matters – you want to give your fanbase a top-of-the-world-Ma championship to celebrate, and Pitt Volleyball has now cultivated enough of a fanbase that the trophy would really mean something to all of us.

364 days per year, I'd say hopping on the Pitt Volleyball bandwagon has been the best decision I’ve made as a sports fan. It's that *one* other day – that one Thursday in mid-December – that we still need to address.

Two News Items for 2026

Will Olivia Babcock turn pro early? Will she go into the portal? Babcock quickly snuffed out any such offseason rumors with an Instagram story about an hour after the loss:

Thank you for all the support this year Pitt fans. See you again next year.

So it will be The Last Dance for Babcock and the Panthers in 2026. Expect Kellen Petrone to hit the portal for reinforcements to make this roster National Championship-worthy.

One player who will apparently not be staying aboard is Dagmar Mourits. Her Dutch pro team posted a "welcome back" message on Instagram this morning.

Credit to Mourits for helping to steady Pitt at the outside hitter position early this season. The Panthers lacked experience on the depth chart beyond Blaire Bayless, and the 21-year-old Mourits was clearly Pitt's best passer at the position and brought some sharp swings at the left pin.

Her ankle injury at Florida State was deflating, but I'll never forget the Pitt faithful applauding her return during the NCAA tournament – even if it was only for a couple of plays in the back row.

Pitt will not be lacking at outside hitter without Mourits, though. After Bayless, expect incoming phenom Ayanna Watson to get every opportunity to be OH2 (joined in the freshman class by Lola Sageer). Marina Pezelj and Sophia Gregoire both improved mightily in their first seasons at Pitt, and I hope to see both stick around.

I expect some transfer portal news to arrive Monday, and as news breaks out, we'll break in.