The Battle of The ACC

Friday, Oct. 25th the best rivalry in the new era of college volleyball renews. #1 Pittsburgh will host their conference "friends" from #4 Louisville for the most anticipated ACC match this season! Cardinal players and fans have been counting the seconds for this match ever since December 9th, the night of Pitt's dramatic reverse sweep in the Elite 8 round of the NCAA tournament, which sent the Cardinals packing and the Panthers to another final four.

Under Head Coach Dan Fisher, the Panthers have gone from volleyball obscurity to a consistent Top 10 Program—a feat rarely EVER accomplished in modern D1 college volleyball.  Since taking the reins in 2013, Fisher led Pitt during a historic 2021 season that ended in the NCAA Final Four for the first time in school history. Following that, yet another Final Four appearance, and then last season, the Panthers posted an impressive 29-5 record, finishing first in the ACC and earning a spot in the Final Four for the third time in a row. This year Pitt has refused to be ignored, rising to the number one spot in the rankings.

Since the arrival of Dani Busboom Kelly to Louisville in 2016, she has skyrocketed their program from an already good top 25 team to an even stronger elite eight, final four caliber team. During her volleyball career at Nebraska, she earned an impressive record of 124-10, and it seems she has created a similar winning culture for her Cardinals. When asked how Busboom Kelly has brought the team to such great success, sophomore defensive specialist Kamden Schrand stated, “Our coaches want it just as much as we do, and they push us every single day to get better.” However, the drive from their coaches isn’t the only thing that motivates the Cardinals to win.

Both teams hold impressive resumes, Louisville being undefeated in the ACC and Pitt recently sweeping Cal and #5 Stanford, but the game on Louisville’s mind is the one that knocked them out of the tournament last year. That is one loss that doesn’t sit very well with the Cards. Rather, than allow last year’s gut-wrenching loss to become a host of nervousness, this Louisville team has turned it into a fire that fuels the intense rivalry even more. Schrand expressed that they are excited to redeem themselves, and while “it's difficult to play on the road” they intend to “use the energy of the crowd even if they aren’t cheering for [them] because it is a fun atmosphere to play in regardless.”

Why has the rivalry become so heated? Similar growth of the two programs and the coaching staffs.  One of the things that has made it so interesting to cover these programs the past couple of years (other than their talent) is how similar their situations and growth patterns are/have been, despite how completely different their leaders may be.  Neither program was a "cash cow" when the coaches took over.  Neither had abundant resources for recruiting nor were they a volleyball hotbed where they could pull tons of national talent to become a national contender immediately.  Both programs have tremendously loyal staff and some of the best recruiters in the business: Pitt Coach Fisher has had Kellen Petrone as his top assistant, regarded by many as one of the best recruiters in the game.  DBK has had Dan Meske and Todd Chamberlain by her side the entire ride.  They are well known for talent evaluation and development, something that was so crucial early on in their program.  So, as they compete year after year it builds the intensity more and more and these programs have climbed the ranks of college volleyball together at the same pace, making it even more intense being in the same conference wanting "to be 1st" (kind of like US vs. Russia in the Space Race).  **Complete commentary and opinion, but I think Pitt has always felt a bit of chip like they have been in Louisville's shadow a little bit with the national media.  The Cardinals being a bit of the national darlings and maybe that is because Coach DBK played at Nebraska and that is always a good storyline, but I think that has fueled the rivalry. Pitt always feels like they have something to prove nationally to fans, media, and ESPN that they should be talked about equally.

It's evident that Louisville and Pittsburgh’s success stems from their strong recruiting abilities. This high-level rivalry should only continue to grow as both programs get ready to welcome their two best recruiting classes EVER for 2025 and 2026. The Cards 2025 Class features UA All-American Chloe Meester a physical OH from Iowa, that ‘Ville fans aren’t used to seeing within the earlier years of the DBK regime. This year’s class just got deeper and more athletic bringing in a strong four-player class with an average 220 PPV. Meanwhile, Pitt shook up the national recruiting scene when they landed Vegas stud Ayanna Watson (PPV of 298) who was approached by all the major programs in America. This recruiting battle is one the Panthers had no chance of winning when Fisher and staff first arrived in the Steel City. The Top 4 2026 class has an average PPV of 242.

The conference rivalry, competing for many similar recruits year after year, both teams coming so close to reaching an NCAA Championship, and both teams knowing the other stands in the way of their goal. They respect each other, but the schools, programs, and most definitely the fans do not have to like each other. Welcome to college volleyball’s most intense modern-day rivalry played in the home of the Panthers, you can bet the atmosphere will be insane this Friday night.