Pitt
Depaul
Volleyball Wins Sixth Straight at Home
11/5/2005 12:00:00 AM | Volleyball
Nov. 5, 2005
PITTSBURGH - The Pitt volleyball team hit a season-high .357 and swept past visiting DePaul on Saturday afternoon for its sixth consecutive win at Fitzgerald Field House.
The Panthers (15-9, 8-3 Big East) had a team hitting percentage over .300 for the second consecutive match and for the fifth time this season. Pitt had 55 kills and just 15 errors in 112 attacks, and held the Blue Demons (4-20, 1-10) to a .116 clip.
Leading the way was sophomore Diana Andreyko (Pittsburgh, Pa./Baldwin), who registered 16 kills and six digs, hitting a season-high .481 for the match. Senior Gini Ullery (Tracy, Calif./Tracy) added 13 kills, seven digs and four blocks from the other outside position to fuel the Pitt attack.
The Panther middle hitters were solid as sophomore Ashley Creighton (Brandon, Manitoba/Crocus Plains) and freshman Allie Cherven (St. Charles, Mo./Francis Howell Central) combined to hit .500 with 15 kills and 10 block assists. Creighton had six kills in 12 errorless attempts to go along with three digs and a career-high seven blocks, while Cherven had nine kills and three block assists.
Freshman setter Nicole Taurence (Trenton, Mich./Trenton) had a strong performance as well with 48 assists, five digs and two blocks, while senior libero Megan McGrane (Muncie, Ind./Delta) had 23 digs in the three-game victory.
DePaul was led by Mandy Moorberg with 14 kills and seven digs, but she also had 10 attack errors, keeping the Blue Demons out of synch for most of the match. Pitt won the first set, 30-25, and pulled away from a relatively even second game to win 30-24. The Panthers cruised to a 30-20 win in the third and final set to earn the win.
The Panthers will host No. 5 Notre Dame tomorrow afternoon at Fitzgerald Field House, starting at 2 p.m. It will be Pitt's final home match of the season and the final home appearance for the Panthers' four seniors.
NOTES: Pitt is now 4-0 against DePaul, winning the series' first meeting in over a decade...the Panthers need just one more victory to clinch a berth in the eight-team Big East Championships, to be held Nov. 18-20 in Louisville, Ky.
