The Growth of PITT Volleyball

The PITT Volleyball team just ended their 2017 season as Co-ACC Champions and with a 2nd straight NCAA Tournament berth, but unfortunately also for the 2nd straight year they fell to Penn State in the 2nd round.  But, all signs are pointing to them being on even footing with Penn State sooner rather than later, if not defeating them more often than not. But, let’s not get that far ahead of ourselves yet, it’s just fun to think about happening.

And with the recent success of the team, let’s take a look back at how this team has grown into a team that should be reckoned with in the conference and I would say even nationally.

Looking back at the Big East Conference days, despite a few successful years early this century for the Volleyball team, the Olympic sports took a far back seat to football and basketball.  And they struggled because they weren’t getting the funds to be successful.  As the Big East started to fall apart because schools began to realize that the conference was not what it once was, the right move for the entire PITT Athletic Department was to move to the ACC and we are beginning to see the benefits across the board.

When Dan Fisher was hired in 2013, he said his goal was to build a program and they are doing just that.  He went out and brought in the recruits that this team just wasn’t getting before him and his recruiting classes just continue to get better each and every year.  With a majority of this year’s team returning next season and another solid recruiting class coming in, look for the train to keep rolling in the right direction.

Looking at the returning team next season, PITT has key players Kamalani Akeo, Angela Seman, Stephanie Williams, Nika Markovic, Kayla Lund, Layne Van Buskirk and Chinaza Ndee.  As well as key role players, Hanna Markewycz and Emily Horner.  Now, mix in a few of the incoming freshman and next year’s PITT Volleyball team should be one of the favorites, if not the favorite, to win the ACC Championship.

Also, PITT should start the season in the preseason Volleyball Top 25 based on the past few seasons and the group of players who are returning alone.

The 2013 season was also PITT’s first in the ACC where they finished 19-14 overall (11-9 in Conference), in 2014 they finished 25-6 (13-5 in Conference), in 2015 they finished 23-9 (13-7 in Conference), in 2016 they finished 25-9 (15-5 in Conference) and this season they finished 26-7 (18-2 in Conference).

They have improved over the past few years since joining the ACC and the alumni and PITT fan base are beginning to take notice that there is another team besides Football and Basketball that will compete for championships year in and year out.

And that brings up a thought I have and that is the fact that you always here that Football and Basketball are the revenue sports at all Universities and all the other sports should just ride their coattails and success.  Well, that is where I thought of this question, Why can’t you have a third revenue sport at the collegiate level?

Then, I thought about Soccer and then I asked myself, why can’t you have a fourth?

Well, for the purpose of this article, I will stick to Volleyball and why I think PITT has something special here and is one of the top programs in the country.  And they should capitalize on this opportunity because Volleyball is a popular sport across the country as you see it in the ratings of the Summer Olympics with how many people watch any of the matches, not just the ones the USA are in.

Over the course of the season, you will see a college Volleyball match on ESPNU, Big 10 Network or SEC Network.  Now, this is where I think PITT should look into televising home and away matches beginning next year locally.  Or at least have them on radio.

On the TV side, you have KDKA and WTAE with stations that would probably benefit from airing a sporting event based on some of their programming.  With KDKA, you have the CW Pittsburgh and WTAE you have ThisTV PIttsburgh.  And then you even have 22 The Point as an option if PITT wanted seek out and see if they could score a TV contract out of one of those three stations.

I realize they have the ACC Network Extra on ESPN3 that televises most home matches, but why wouldn’t you be able to still use that telecast, but put it on an actual TV Station instead of, or and, ESPN3.  You would get more viewers this way obviously and if one of these stations televised the home and away matches, they would probably see a ratings increase compared to other shows they would have in those time slots otherwise.

And then on the radio side,  you have two options that already carry other PITT sports, that would probably benefit from airing PITT Volleyball home and away matches.  PITT Football and Men’s Basketball are already on 93.7 The Fan and although I don’t think it would benefit The Fan to put Volleyball matches on the air, they have sister stations that would highly benefit from it.  And the most logical choice would be to put them on NewsRadio 1020 KDKA.

And then the other station would be WJAS, which they already carry PITT Women’s Basketball and would be able to carry another PITT sport during the fall months.

Would you like to see any of these stations carry PITT Volleyball home and away matches beginning next season?  Would this be a step in the right direction for PITT and another way to bring in revenue?

All I know is that with the PITT Volleyball team, they are here to stay and all of the PITT Alumni and general fan base should take notice.  And the main way to show our support would be to buy season tickets and I know I will most likely be purchasing some next season for the first time.

How about you?  Will you be packing The Fitz next season for PITT Volleyball? Traveling on the road with them?

Tweet me (@MattyIcePGH) and tweet DreamBackfield (@IntoPITT), let us know what you think about these propositions I thought of.