PITTSBURGH (93.7 The Fan) – It’s the fourth consecutive season the Pitt women’s volleyball team has advanced to the Final Four of the NCAA Tournament. What is different this team, the Panthers are the favorite.
It may not feel like it Thursday night at 6:30 when the top overall seed faces another number one seed in their home city. It’s Pitt facing Louisville at the KFC Yum! Center in the center of downtown Louisville.
“We are embracing the underdog mindset, there will be 20,000 people in red,” Pitt head coach Dan Fisher said on the Pomp and Joe Show on 93.7 The Fan. “It’s going to be hard, but if you want to win a national championship, it’s going to be hard.”
Currently Pitt has won four straight against their chief rival including beating the Cardinals on the road to Final Four last year despite Louisville leading 2-0 in the match. These schools met one time in the Final Four previously, Louisville won 3-2 in 2022.
“They are a great defensive team, as are we,” Fisher told 93.7 The Fan. “We need to rally it out of them. There are going to be some really long rallies, we need to win more of them than they do.”
Fisher believes he has his best team ever with National Player of the Year finalist, sophomore Olivia Babcock. She is also one of four All-Americans on the team-sophomore Torrey Stafford, junior Bre Kelley and senior Rachel Fairbanks. He believes the experience of the core of this team returning to the Final Four could help them to a first ever NCAA championship game.
“We are going to be nervous,” Fisher told Joe Starkey and Bob Pompeani. “We are going to be excited. We are going to use that nervous energy to help us perform.”
“We are trying to do it for each other. My life will be ok if I’m the guy that fails in the Final Four, but I really want to win this for the players, the coaches, the administration, the community. I know the girls feel the same way.”