University of Pittsburgh Athletics
Babcock, Bayless Choose to Stay Together for One More Year at Pitt
9/29/2026 9:55:00 AM | Volleyball
The Saturday before Pitt volleyball's season opener, the bus ride was quiet except for a joke.
Head coach Dan Fisher, sitting near Olivia Babcock, Blaire Bayless and setter Izzy Starck, brought up the NCAA's new eligibility rule — the one that had just handed every college athlete an extra year of competition.
He turned to Starck, only half-serious, and told her she needed to start recruiting her two All-American teammates to stick around for a fifth season.
Starck laughed. She said she already was.
More than a month later, Fisher would admit it wasn't really a joke at all. Starck, he said, had a real hand in what came next.
On Sept. 26, Babcock and Bayless made it official. During a first-quarter timeout at Pitt's football game against Bucknell, with the volleyball team on the field being honored for last season's Final Four run, Fisher took the microphone and handed it to his two seniors.
"Thank you, Pitt fans, for the best four years. We love you guys," Bayless said.
Then Babcock: "And we'll be back for a fifth. Hail to Pitt."
The crowd's reaction said what the moment meant, but for Babcock and Bayless, the decision had been building for months, shaped by a rule change, a hundred conversations and a bond neither one was ready to let go of.
A Rule Changes, A Choice Appears
Babcock and Bayless are both seniors this fall, which under the old NCAA structure would have meant this season was their last.
But a rule that took effect July 1 rewrote the calculus, granting five years of eligibility across the board. The change has triggered lawsuits and legal battles for athletes whose eligibility had already expired, but for this year's seniors, it created a choice that didn't previously exist.
For Babcock and Bayless, the choice wasn't simple, but it also wasn't really in question for long.
"Me and Fish have had a lot of long conversations about it, obviously, and I've had a lot of hard conversations with other people — people who have decided to leave," Babcock said. "I just needed to get a lot of points of view. But I think just talking to Fish and talking to Blaire about it, it was very clear that staying here is obviously the best option. I love this place, and who wouldn't want the opportunity to play here again?"
Bayless described a similar pull. It was one rooted less in strategy and more in feeling.
"Both times that I've committed here have been for the same reason — out of love," Bayless said. "At 16, I fell in love with how much the coaches believed in me, and coming here and watching the Blue-Gold and seeing how the girls compete with each other. Now, five years later, going into my senior year, recommitting to Pittsburgh, I feel like I fell in love with this place even more than I thought I could. I just feel so lucky that I don't have to say my goodbyes yet."
Two Careers, Intertwined
Babcock and Bayless arrived at Pitt together in 2023, and from the start, staying together mattered.
It wasn't a dealbreaker if one returned and the other didn't, but it was always part of the conversation. So when Babcock finally made up her mind, both were thrilled they'd get to announce it side by side.
Bayless decided first, about two weeks before the announcement. Babcock came to her decision a few days later, in the week of Sept. 21. The plan to reveal it at the football game was locked in just a day before it happened.
In true Babcock fashion, she told Fisher in passing. It wasn't a big conversation, just a decision shared about two minutes before practice started.
When asked how much of the recruiting fell on him, Fisher was quick to point out that it really didn't come from him or the rest of the coaching staff.
"There was actually quite little pressure from the coaching staff," Fisher said. "We made our case, and then the situation changed. I will say there were some girls on the team heavily recruiting these two to stay. But one of the things we talked about was: this question is going to keep coming up — not just for these two, but for pretty much everyone in college right now. The rules have changed, and it's not going away. I think they made a good choice to do it early and just focus on the season."
What They're Coming Back To
The résumés speak for themselves.
Babcock has been considered the best player in the country for most of her Pitt career — AVCA Freshman of the Year in 2023, back-to-back AVCA National Player of the Year in 2024 and 2025, making her just the fifth player in the award's history to win it twice. Oh, and she's the front runner to win it again.
She's a two-time Honda Award winner and two-time ESPY finalist for Best College Athlete, Women's Sports, and she's closing in on Pitt's all-time career records in kills and service aces.
Bayless's path has looked different — a slower, steadier climb. She played just seven sets as a freshman in 2023. By her sophomore year, that number had grown to 89 sets across 33 matches.
Last season, she grew into Pitt's six-rotation outside hitter, averaging 2.65 kills per set. This year, she's broken through again: 3.28 kills, 1.93 digs, 0.63 blocks and 3.61 points per set, all on pace for career highs.
Together, they've helped build a Pitt program that's become one of the sport's elite: three of Pitt's five straight Final Four appearances, a 104-12 overall record, a 38-11 mark against ranked opponents, and just one home loss in four years.
Pitt sits at No. 2 in the country this season, with a roster that could return, in full, next year.
Neither Babcock nor Bayless was interested in waiting to share the news once it was made.
"Why not?" Babcock said, when asked why they announced in September rather than later in the season.
"I think we both were just really excited," Bayless added. "Now that the secret's out, we can refocus on our mission this year, and get excited once that time comes."
