University of Pittsburgh Athletics
Olivia Babcock's Summer of Standing Out — and Standing Together
7/30/2026 5:00:00 PM | General, Volleyball
For two nights this summer, Olivia Babcock was the only person in the room wearing a Pitt jersey — at least in spirit.
At the ESPYs on July 15, she walked a red carpet crowded with names that dwarf most college rosters. DJ Khaled put a hand on her shoulder while squeezing through the crowd. When Babcock saw her sister later, it was the first thing she mentioned.
Alpine skiing star Mikaela Shiffrin stood right next to her ESPN set, part of the same pre-awards show interview. Cam Heyward and Fernando Mendoza mingled at the after party like it was nothing.
It wasn't her first trip to the ESPYs. She was nominated for the same category last year, but by Babcock's own admission this year was a lot to process.
"There were more recognizable faces at this one just because of how many people there were," Babcock said. "I was trying to take it in, I was also trying to process who a lot of the people were."
She leaned on the volleyball players in the room to stay grounded. Texas A&M star Kyndall Stowers was nominated for a different award. Nebraska's Harper Murray hung out with Babcock before her TV hit.
Of course, her coach Dan Fisher was there, too.
But even with that support, one fact stood out to Babcock more than the celebrities or the cameras: she was the only Pitt athlete on that stage, and one of the only Pitt women to ever be there at all.
"As much as I can, just shed light on Pitt women's sports. That's just the goal," Babcock said. "I'm just really proud to play for Pitt and that I get to represent them."
Twelve days later, on July 27, that isolation flipped into something closer to belonging.
The Collegiate Women Sports Awards marked Babcock's second consecutive year as a Honda Sport Award Winner.
This time she walked in already knowing the rhythms of the week — the Monday city tour through Times Square, Grand Central Station, the New York Public Library, and St. Patrick's Cathedral, all meant to bond the honorees before the ceremony itself. The welcome reception, the luncheon and the actual show itself.
The familiarity showed almost immediately. Alumni from past classes remembered her. Board members sought her out to catch up. Where the ESPYs had been an exercise in figuring out where she fit among strangers, the Honda week felt like walking back into a room that had saved her a seat.
"A lot of the people on the board and people who were there last year came up to me and were very excited to see me again," Babcock said. "It was very clear that it was a sisterhood because of how welcoming they were."
That sisterhood showed up loudest in the story of Yvonne Lee, this year's Honda Inspiration Award winner.
Lee survived a serious car accident on her way to move-in day as a freshman, then a bone cancer diagnosis just months later that led to nine months of chemotherapy, a total knee replacement, and four more months of immunotherapy. She was told she'd never play college basketball again. She returned anyway, medically cleared after more than 1,000 days away from the sport, and eventually took the court on Senior Day.
"It's so easy to think your problems are so big," Babcock said. "When you take a step back, though, you realize that some people are facing way harder problems and they're refusing to give up. It just really motivates me to just believe the most and really give in to the people that I'm supported by."
It's not a stretch to draw a line from Lee's story to the question Babcock has answered more than any other over the past three years: what does it feel like to keep losing in the Final Four?
Pitt has reached three straight national semifinals under Babcock, and three straight times, the season has ended one match short of a championship. She's heard the question so often that her answer has become something like muscle memory — but not because she's tired of defending it.
If anything, the repetition has sharpened her answer rather than worn it down. She points to the fact that Pitt is the one of the only programs to reach five consecutive Final Fours — win or lose — as proof the Panthers are doing something most programs simply can't sustain.
"I don't even think it's a bad question," Babcock said. "Being able to respond to all those Final Fours, still getting back up the next year and being able to do it again. It's easy to get down on yourself. But, we do work every single day in the gym. The consistency of that is something that we should really be proud of."
Fast forward to the actual awards show and Babcock was nervous. She sat in the front row after a day filled with networking, getting ready and just hoping to hear her name called.
Babcock was picked as one of three finalists out of twelve nominees, alongside Nebraska softball's Jordan Frahm and eventual winner Lauren Betts of UCLA basketball.
That tension — wanting the win badly enough to feel it in a 30-second commercial break, but still finding meaning short of it — surfaced again when the Collegiate Woman Athlete of the Year was about to be announced.
Babcock stood next to Betts, both of them watching the clock count down, neither saying much beyond the occasional nervous glance.
"I was pretty nervous," Babcock said. "I was just looking at Kellen [Petrone] in the crowd and just smiling. I definitely was nervous, especially because I wanted it so bad, obviously. But also because it's such a cool experience, and it just would have meant a lot."
She didn't win either award. She hasn't won a national championship either, not yet.
But both nights left her with the same instinct: to keep using whatever stage she's given, however unfamiliar or intimidating, to put volleyball in front of more people who might not otherwise be watching.
That instinct isn't about her own recognition, even as her résumé grows.
"I want to do it for women's volleyball, so we can finally be put up there and get as much recognition as I feel like we deserve," Babcock said. "I feel like Pitt is such a dominant program, and I feel like obviously we have been growing over the years. I just want to continue to grow it. I'm just grateful that I get the opportunity to represent myself, volleyball and Pitt on such a huge stage."
Whether she's the lone Pitt player on a red carpet full of superstars or one voice in a room full of women who've all fought their own version of the same fight, Babcock's summer made one thing clear: she's not chasing the spotlight for herself. She's trying to make sure the door stays open behind her.
