Pitt volleyball had answers to a lot of questions in its spring season. It lost over half of its starters to graduation or the transfer portal, and it seemed likely that Pitt would look bad in its spring exhibitions. But in actuality, it looked the opposite.
The team played three games for its spring season and went a perfect 3-0. The Panthers didn’t go undefeated in sets as they did to start the 2024 regular season with 36 straight sets won, but the team still impressed.
“I’m glad our fans got to see what I have been seeing in practice,” head coach Dan Fisher said. “We have had one of our best springs ever.”
How do the pin hitters look?
Pitt’s two projected starting outside hitters, junior Blaire Bayless and redshirt sophomore and Oregon transfer Sophia Gregoire, didn’t have their best game against Penn State in State College. Both hit below .200 — Bayless hit .087 and Gregoire hit .158 for the Panthers.
However, their biggest issue was in serve receive, especially for Bayless, as she committed six reception errors against the Nittany Lions. Gregoire wasn’t perfect in serve receive, as she also committed two reception errors.
The two outside hitters looked a lot better in the second game of the spring season. They combined for 16 kills, with Bayless leading the team in kills with 10. But the most impressive part of their offensive games was the efficiency. Gregoire hit .556 and Bayless hit .500.
Bayless and Gregoire also looked much better in serve-receive. Gregoire still committed two reception errors, but Bayless didn’t make a single error. Against Michigan on Sunday, neither made a reception error.
Gregoire didn’t have a good hitting performance against Michigan as she only mustered four kills and still had three errors. But her bad performance didn’t matter, because Bayless had another great performance with 12 kills and a .458 hitting percentage.
But the story of Sunday wasn’t either of the outside hitters — it was junior opposite hitter Olivia Babcock. In the first three sets, Babcock had 10 kills and was the number one concern for Michigan to slow down, and they succeeded as she also committed five errors.
But Babcock was simply impossible to stop in the fourth set. She doubled her number of kills without committing an error, and seemingly every time the ball went in her direction, the Panthers scored a point.
Babcock was just OK on Saturday against Ohio State, tabbing eight kills on 19 swings. Against Penn State, Babcock had 18 kills on 43 attempts but was truly dominant for the Panthers in the fifth set, earning five much-needed kills.
“She’s just unbelievable,” redshirt senior libero Emery Dupes said of Babcock. “There’s nothing that you can do to stop her … I am very lucky to have her as one of my teammates now.”
If Pitt wants to seek out a fifth consecutive Final Four, it needs Bayless and Gregoire to play great. Average outside hitters don’t push a team to the National Semifinal — great ones do.
Reigning National Player of the Year Olivia Babcock can carry this team to the second weekend practically on her own. But she will need some help if the Panthers want to keep the standard they have created, which is a Final Four appearance.
How does Emery Dupes fit in at libero?
Dupes, a Florida State transfer, was brought in for Pitt to have a seamless transition from Emmy Klika at libero. And with the spring season behind us, it seems as if Pitt found the gritty libero that Fisher needed.
“I don’t really think she has a weakness,” Fisher said of Dupes. “She’s great defensively and I think she has the potential to be our best libero ever in terms of scrappiness.”
In the three spring games, Dupes earned 28 digs, with 16 of them coming in the four-set win against Michigan. Dupes also only had three reception errors in serve receive — she was the steady force in the back row that Pitt needed.
Dupes was a solid libero for Florida State last season. She had 166 digs and a .946 reception percentage for the Seminoles in her 116 sets played, but it looked like she took a step forward in this three-game stretch.
“I have improved so much in just being able to be coached by [Pitt] in just a few months,” Dupes said. “I think I am only going to get better by playing with the team because they are so competitive, and it just raises my level and makes me want to play better.”
How is Pitt going to make up for the loss of Rachel Fairbanks?
Rachel Fairbanks is not a simple replacement for the Panthers. She was a three-time All-ACC honoree, three-time All-American and four-time NCAA regional All-Tournament team member. Teams aren’t going to find that in the Transfer Portal or via recruitment.
Redshirt sophomore setter Haiti Tautua’a took Fairbanks’ role in this shortened spring season, and she did just fine. She had 85 assists in the 12 sets she played and led the Panthers to a .276 hitting percentage.
But no one should have expected perfection. She’s coming off a torn ACL and is still gaining confidence.
“It’s nerve-wracking to come back after not playing for so long,” sophomore middle blocker Ryla Jones said. “[But] she did a really good job of settling in.”
It was obvious that as Tautua’a played in more games, the more self-assured she has become. The setter had 5.6 assists per set against Penn State, 6.3 against Ohio State and a much-improved 9.6 against Michigan.
The biggest difference between the first game she played in compared to the last game she played in was her connection with the middle blockers. Jones and redshirt senior Bre Kelley both hit .000 against Penn State, and against Michigan, they both hit .500 or better.
Tautua’a isn’t Pitt’s only setter option come the fall season. Illinois transfer and redshirt senior Brooke Mosher will also have a shot at the position. But don’t rule out the possibility of Pitt running a 6-2 — meaning both Tautua’a and Mosher are setters for three rotations — when the regular season starts, because every time the Panthers ran a 6-2 in the spring, the offense looked much smoother.
There are still some questions for Pitt volleyball to answer over the summer, but some of the biggest questions I had for the program were answered during the spring practices.
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