No. 2 Pitt Beats No. 24 BYU In Provo

Friday, September 4

Provo, Utah

8:30 PM

Pitt

5-0,0-0ACC

BYU

3-1,0-0Big 12

Team	1	2	3	4	Final F
Pittsburgh	25	24	25	25	3
BYU	23	26	15	20	1

No. 2 Pitt Beats No. 24 BYU In Provo

9/4/2026 11:12:00 PM | Volleyball

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Provo, Utah – The No. 2 ranked Pitt volleyball team went into a raucous environment at Smith Fieldhouse and came away with a four-set victory over No. 24 BYU Friday night, 25-23, 24-26, 25-15, 25-20. The Panthers used a three-pronged offensive onslaught and suffocating defense over the final two sets to improve to 5-0 on the season. BYU took its first loss to fall to 3-1.

Olivia Babcock and Blaire Bayless had 16 kills each and freshman Ayanna Watson added 14 as the Pitt offense rolled early. Bayless tied her career-high in kills and Watson established a new career mark. The Pitt defense, which saw BYU hit .382 over the course of the first two sets, held the Cougars to just .082 hitting in the final two frames.

SET ONE

Pitt had eight kills on its first eight points and went on an early 4-0 run for an 8-5 advantage
BYU rallied back to go ahead 10-9 and the teams traded the lead back-and-forth.
Tied at 15-15, BYU scored two and the Cougars continued to hold the lead until back-to-back blocks by Pitt tied the score at 20-20.
Pitt trailed 23-22 but Ayanna Watson finished off the set with kills on three straight points for the 25-23 victory.

SET TWO

BYU took the lead early and slowly pulled away from the Panthers. An ace gave the Cougars an 18-13 lead.
Pitt made things interesting, cutting the deficit to two at 22-20, but BYU answered with a kill.
Blaire Bayless followed with a kill and a BYU attack error made it 23-22 and forced a Cougars' timeout.
Out of the break, Bayless posted another kill to tie the score at 23-23. Bayless the recorded her 10^th kill of the match to tie it at 24-24.
BYU then scored the final two points for the 26-24 victory.

SET THREE

Ayanna Watson had back-to-back aces as Pitt jumped out to a quick 8-2 lead.
Pitt never looked back and cruised to the 25-15 win.

SET FOUR

Tied up in the early going, Pitt scored four straight for the 12-8 lead.
After a Babcock kill, Pitt led by five at 16-11. BYU closed to within three multiple times but Pitt came up with big points when needed to close out the match 25-20.

NOTABLE

Blaire Bayless tied her career-high with 16 kills and Ayanna Watson almost doubled her previous high of eight with 14 on the night. Freshman Maaike Heilig also tied her career-high with six kills.
Izzy Starck had a new season-best with 50 assists on the evening.
Watson added the team's only two aces of the night, tying another career best. She was also perfect on 17 serve receives.
Mallorie Meyer led a balanced Pitt effort with nine digs, while Babcock and Abby Emch each had five blocks.
Pitt outdug BYU 43-41, the fifth straight time the Panthers have won the statistical battle to start the year in the category.
Pitt had two players with 15 or more kills in a match since Sophia Gregoire (20) and Bayless (15) reach that total at Cal on Nov. 16, 2025. That was also the last time Pitt had three players with 10+ kills in a match.
Pitt improved to 4-2 all-time against BYU, including a 2-1 record in Smith Fieldhouse.
The Panthers now have four wins over ranked opponents this season with victories over No. 3 Kentucky, No. 5 Wisconsin and No. 16 Kansas as well.
Pitt improves to a nation's best 158-20 since the start of the 2021 season and 52-6 in regular season non-conference play. Pitt is also 20-5 against ranked opponents in non-conference play.
Olivia Babcock set the program record a year ago in single-season kills and had 86 through five matches. She has 91 through five matches this year. Babcock also passed Wendy Hatlestad to move into third all-time on Pitt's career kills list.
Pitt improved to 13-2 all-time when ranked No. 2 in the country and 262-38 as a ranked team.