Pitt women's volleyball team advances to Sweet 16 with win over rival Penn State

Kayla Lund was elated to have an opportunity to take down Penn State, one of the Pitt women’s volleyball team’s oldest tormentors, Saturday night at Petersen Events Center.

The Panthers graduate student and outside hitter decided to take advantage of the extra year provided because of the pandemic before Pitt made a historic run to the Elite 8 last season.

Lund, who finished with a match-high 21 kills, helped add more chapters to the program’s history book with a 3-1 (25-22, 23-25, 25-22, 25-23) victory over the Nittany Lions in the second round of the NCAA Tournament.

It was the first victory for Pitt over Penn State in the tournament. The Nittany Lions previously had knocked the Panthers out in the second round in 2003, ‘16 and ‘17.

“It’s surreal,” Lund said. “Looking back at my freshman year, losing to Penn State in the NCAA Tournament this was a revenge match. I had a lot of friends and alumni reach out to me this morning and say, ‘Hey, you know what to do,’ and, ‘This is for us,’ kind of thing. It means a lot.”

Middle blocker Serena Gray, a Penn State transfer, scored the winning point on a block for the Panthers.

“There were two challenges: the physical challenge and there was the emotional challenge,” Gray said. “When you are playing against a group of people you love so much, it’s difficult to want to go in no-mercy style.”

Beating the Nittany Lions once seemed like a pipe dream. Penn State, which has been to the Final Four 10 times and won seven national titles, held a long reign as the region’s preeminent program. The Nittany Lions lead the all-time series between the programs 34-21.

Pitt’s victory provides them with home-court advantage until the Final Four. The Panthers will meet unseeded Kansas, which upset No. 14 seed Creighton, 3-1, at Fitzgerald Field House next week in the Sweet 16.

“The history of Pittsburgh and the schools is a big rivalry,” Pitt coach Dan Fisher said. “Since I’ve been here, (Penn State coach) Russ (Rose) has been great to me. We’ve done a lot of friendlies. It’s a friendly rivalry. It’s not as adversarial as the history of Pitt-Penn State. Any time you knock a storied program out of the tournament, whether it’s Nebraska or Penn State, it means alot.”

Pitt and Penn State (21-11) were competitive from the outset. In the first set, the teams traded the lead 12 times. Leketor Member-Meneh was the Panthers’ big hitter in the first set, finishing with eight of her 19 kills.

The Panthers went ahead for good, 23-22, with a kill from Rachel Fairbanks. A service ace from Gray and a block by Lund and Chiamaka Nwokolo allowed Pitt to seal a 25-22 win.

The Nittany Lions stole the second set by recording the final three points. A block by Jonni Parker and Allie Holland gave Penn State a 23-22 edge before the Nittany Lions closed it out with a ace by Parker and Pitt attack error.

“I thought we put in a good effort today,” Penn State coach Russ Rose said. “We had opportunities throughout the year, as well as all four of the games today.”

Where the match turned was late in the third set. The Nittany Lions had surged to a 22-20 advantage following a service ace by Gabby Blossom.

Pitt then responded with five consecutive points to steal the set. Chinaza Ndee led the surge by putting away three kills during the run.

Sealing the match required another test of fortitude for Pitt. Following an attack error by Member-Meneh, the Panthers trailed 23-21 in the fourth set. Pitt then ran off four straight points to win the match.

“I think we stayed in it,” Fisher said. “The reality is this wasn’t our best volleyball. We made a lot of errors. It’s not abnormal in a big match, but we didn’t settle in like we would have liked.”