University of Pittsburgh Athletics
Built as One: Pitt Volleyball's Blend of Old and New
8/22/2026 4:15:00 PM | General, Volleyball
It was supposed to be a regular team dinner. Instead, the Pitt volleyball team spent the better part of an evening at head coach Dan Fisher's house not wanting to go home.
They were still outside an hour after they needed to be, playing games in the yard, laughing, refusing to call it a night.
"Last year we were close, but I feel like this year, this is such a special team," sophomore middle blocker Abbey Emch said. "I feel like we're all just sisters, best friends off the court, which makes on the court a hundred times better. The way we mesh together, our relationships — we're all playing for each other, not just ourselves. That'll really show and make it hard for competitors to beat us, just because we have this special bond already."
It was the latest chapter in a summer that had already given this team plenty of reasons to grow close.
In May, the team spent 10 days together overseas, playing volleyball and making memories across Slovenia, Paris and Italy. The trip meant tough matches against unfamiliar competition, but just as much time was spent simply being together — meals, sightseeing, downtime in a new country with the people who'd be lining up next to them all season.
The coaching staff had seen the closeness building all preseason in the gym. But it was in Fisher's backyard, not an ocean away, that it became undeniable.
That is the story of Pitt volleyball entering this season. Not a team leaning on one star, and not a team chasing a moment. It's a program that returned all but five of last year's Final Four roster, then made it deeper, tougher and harder to prepare for.
Every Pitt team talks about closeness. This one has spent all preseason trying to prove it's different.
"I would say very relationship-oriented and gritty," said libero Izzy Masten. "We're not afraid to push each other and go after it. But at the same time, we care for each other in a different type of way, and I think that's going to be the ultimate difference."
Closing the Gaps That Almost Got Them There
Pitt walked away from last year's Final Four with a list of things to fix — and the postseason loss to Texas A&M became the moment the work started.
The margin in that match came down to defense. It's the kind of loss that lingers into an offseason, and for Pitt's back row, it became the standard for what this year had to look like instead.
"That was a big focus for us this spring," senior outside hitter Blaire Bayless said. "We felt like we could have made more defensive plays in that match. With these three liberos we have, they've really become leaders in that sense, setting the tone for our defensive effort every single day in practice, to where the other players just want to follow."
Those three liberos — Izzy Masten, Mallorie Meyer and freshman Trinity Thompson — have built the kind of backcourt partnership that shows up in moments, not just numbers. Masten described a group that feeds off each other's energy in real time: one big defensive play setting off the next, then the next, until it becomes something closer to momentum than coincidence.
It's not just the liberos doing the work. The entire roster has taken steps to improve their back row defense.
"We wanted to be a better defensive team than we were last year, and we feel like we're doing that, both with our block and open-net scoops," Fisher said. "I think this team has a chance to be our best defensive team ever, and hopefully we show that."
The middle blocker room tells a similar story of turning a departure into a strength.
Pitt lost a star in the middle after last season in Bre Kelley. They also lost two more middles to the transfer portal, leaving Abbey Emch as the lone returner. Fisher and his staff brought in a pair of heavy hitters to join her in Kentucky transfer Jordyn Dailey and freshman Maaike Heilig, a Dutch Rookie of the Year with national team experience.
"They add everything," Emch said. "This is the biggest depth we've ever had at middle blocker, and it's super fun, super competitive. They add such a high energy, huge competitive spirit. I love being in the gym with both of them. They push me and make me better, and I really appreciate that."
Where last year's team had one clear weapon in the middle, this year's has three fighting for reps every day. Where last year's back row had holes exposed on the biggest stage, this year's liberos have made closing them a daily habit. The gaps that ended one season have become the identity of the next.
More Ways to Win
If defense is where Pitt closed the door on last season, offense is where it opened new ones.
The outside narrative last year was simple: Pitt had one offensive weapon, and her name was Olivia Babcock.
That storyline gets harder to tell this season. Blaire Bayless, Marina Pezelj and Sophia Gregoire have all taken real strides since last fall, and two freshmen — Lola Sageer and Ayanna Watson, the No. 2 recruit in the class of 2026 — give Pitt even more scoring options it simply didn't have a year ago.
The result is a roster that no longer runs through a single option, with pieces up and down the lineup capable of putting points on the board.
None of that works without someone to get them the ball, and that's where Izzy Starck comes in. She arrived in the spring already carrying a national championship pedigree — she was the Big Ten Freshman of the Year in 2024 when Penn State won it all.
"Having the time to train really allowed our team chemistry to build, and I think that showed on the court," Starck said. "During preseason, everyone wanted to be in the gym, everyone was excited to get started. Being able to take a little more time, focus on fundamentals, and really build that team culture and identity — that mattered."
That chemistry shows up most in tempo. Between Starck and Tautua'a, Pitt has been able to push the pace of its offense all preseason without losing the control that makes it work. Add in a back row that's stronger across the board, and Pitt has a recipe for success — one that starts with the pass.
"The better the pass, the better our offense is going to be," Masten said. "With Izzy and TT and how well they've trained in the offseason, we're able to run things where the pass doesn't have to be perfect. Our passing's gotten better, but our setting is incredible, too, and that helps the offense."
More scorers. Faster tempo. A setter who's already won it all. Pitt didn't need to replace what it lost last season — it needed to build more ways to win with what it has.
One Day at a Time
Fisher didn't frame this season as a single shot at something. He framed it as a relationship — one where the staff and the roster build each other up, one day at a time, and let the results speak for themselves in December.
That's the version of "old and new" Pitt has built this year: not a team trying to replace what worked, but one that took a Final Four roster, kept what made it close, and made it harder to play against in every direction.
The proof isn't in a preseason poll or a September headline. It's in a gym full of players who, by every account, still aren't ready to go home.
