Volleyball Comes Back to Defeat Miami in Five-Game Thriller
11/8/2002 12:00:00 AM | Volleyball
Volleyball Comes Back to Defeat Miami in Five-Game Thriller
11/8/2002
PITTSBURGH ?
The Panthers won the first game, 30-26, after pulling away from the Hurricanes. The game was close early with Miami putting up a 7-5 advantage, but Pittsburgh scored four of the next six points to tie the game at 9-9 and never looked back. The Hurricanes won two very close games by scores of 30-28 in both to take the 2-1 advantage. It looked like the ?Canes would win the match after taking a 14-9 lead in game four but the Panthers came storming back to win 21 of the final 33 points and record a 30-26 victory.
The deciding fifth game went back-and-forth between the two teams. Pittsburgh (17-9, 7-4 Big East) took a 12-10 lead but Miami (21-4, 7-3) came back to tie the game and went ahead, 13-12. The Panthers scored the final three points of the game to win the match.
Sophomore middle hitter Megan Miller (Milford, Conn./Jonathan Law) had a career-high 28 kills, tied for ninth most by a Panther in a single match. Miller hit .490 after making just four errors in 49 attempts and had a team-high five blocks, including a big solo stuff in the final game. Freshman Madelyn Egan (Sandy, Utah/Brighton) also had a big game for the Panthers with 12 kills and just two errors in 19 attempts for a .526 hitting percentage and added four blocks.
Three other Panthers recorded double-digits in kills, including Sarah Rollman (Norfolk, Neb./Norfolk) (15 kills and 17 digs), Wendy Hatlestad (Roseville, Minn./Roseville Area) (14 kills, 13 digs) and freshman Kim Norris (Fostoria, Ohio/Hopewell-Loudon), who started for the first time. Norris had 10 kills, two assists, three digs and a block.
Her sister, senior Carrie Norris (Fostoria, Ohio/Hopewell-Loudon), had a season-high 69 assists to lead the Panthers and added 16 digs for the double-double and four blocks. Norris? 69 assists were the 10th most in Panther history and the second most for the senior. Freshman libero Megan McGrane (Muncie, Ind./Delta) had a career-high 26 digs to lead the Panthers? defensive effort.
Miami was led by Valeria Tipiana, with 21 kills and 12 digs, and Elizabeth Tyson, who registered 12 kills and 15 digs.
Pittsburgh will face Virginia Tech, who came into Friday tied with Miami for second place in the Big East with a 7-2 record, on Sunday. The Panthers and Hokies will meet at Fitzgerald Field House at 2 p.m.