No. 2 Pitt Overcomes Early Deficit to Beat Utah In Four Sets

Sunday, September 6

Salt Lake City, Utah

6 PM

Pitt

6-0,0-0ACC

Utah

4-2,0-0Big 12

Team	1	2	3	4	Final F
Pittsburgh	15	25	25	25	3
Utah	25	21	21	9	1

No. 2 Pitt Overcomes Early Deficit to Beat Utah In Four Sets

9/6/2026 8:35:00 PM | Volleyball

Box Score Box Score

SALT LAKE CITY, UTAH – For the first time in 2026, the No. 2 Pitt volleyball team faced a deficit. But the Panthers stared down that adversity and overcame, defeating Utah in four sets, 15-25, 25-21, 25-21, 25-9. With the win, Pitt improves to 6-0 on the season and Utah drops to 4-2.

Pitt hit .363 over the final three sets, including .522 in the clinching set four. Olivia Babcock led the way with 18 kills and hit .469 over the final three sets. She shook off a slow start, three attack errors in the first set, and had just two attack errors over the course of the final three frames.

SET ONE

Utah opened the match by scoring the first four points and Head Coach Dan Fisher burned a Pitt timeout with the Utes ahead 8-4 following their second ace of the early going.
After Utah went ahead 10-4, Pitt used its second timeout of the opening set.
The lead ballooned to eight at 12-4 before a Blaire Bayless kill slowed the momentum.
Pitt got as close as five but Utah extended the lead again and pulled away 25-15.

SET TWO

Pitt took the early momentum by scoring five of the first seven points.
Utah responded by scoring five of the next seven to tie it at 7-7.
Ayanna Watson and Jordyn Dailey had back-to-back kills to kickstart a 4-0 run that put the Panthers back ahead 11-7 and forced a Utah timeout.
Pitt led 15-9 at the technical timeout on a pair of block assists by Jordyn Dailey.
The Panthers maintained the lead and squared the match, 25-21.

SET THREE

Pitt jumped in front 3-1 but Utah answered with three straight for its first lead of the third set.
Utah made the first push, taking a 12-10 lead, but Pitt tied it back up at 16-16.
After a Utah point, Pitt scored three straight to take a 19-17 advantage.
After a Bayless kill and a Utah attack error, the Panthers had a 23-20 lead. Pitt held on 25-21.

SET FOUR

Pitt opened the set with four straight points and seven of the first eight.
The Panthers continued to overwhelm Utah, taking an 11-2 lead and pushing it even further at 19-4.
Pitt closed out the set and the match 25-9.

NOTABLE

Olivia Babcock had her first double-double since Nov. 14, 2025 at Stanford. She finished with 18 kills, 13 digs and six blocks. Both the dig total and block total were a season-high.
Babcock has 109 kills through the first six matches of 2026. She had 96 kills through six matches a year ago when she set Pitt's single-season record.
Freshman Ayanna Watson added eight kills and a team-high two service aces.
Izzy Starck posted her fifth double-double of the season with 33 assists and 12 digs.
Blaire Bayless added 10 digs and Trinity Thompson had nine.
Jordyn Dailey had a season-high four kills and a career-best eight blocks.
Pitt outblocked Utah 12.0-8.0 and outdug the Utes 52-49. The Panthers also hit .275 and held Utah to .194.
Pitt improves to 14-2 all-time when ranked No. 2 in the country and 263-38 when ranked in the AVCA poll.
The Panther improved to 4-0 all-time against Utah.
Pitt has outdug six straight opponents to open the season.
Following the win, Pitt is a nation's best 159-20 since the start of the 2021 season and 53-6 in regular season non-conference play. The Panthers are 33-1 against unranked opponents in non-conference regular season play since the start of 2021.

UP NEXT

Pitt travels from Utah to Orlando to face No. 22 Tennessee Wednesday night at 6:30 p.m.
That match is part of the Shriners Children's Showdown at the Net at ESPN Wide World of Sports. The match will be televised on ESPN2.