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No. 6 Pittsburgh sweeps Hawaii women’s volleyball team

Jason Kaneshiro

COLLEGE STATION, Texas >> Sixth-ranked Pittsburgh set the tone at the net and from the service line in a sweep of the University of Hawaii women’s volleyball team today in the Texas A&M Invitational.

Pitt’s Courtney Buzzerio had two blocks and three of the Panthers’ five aces in the opening set and heavy-hitting Valeria Vazquez Gomez put away a match-high 12 kills in the Panthers’ 25-17, 25-16, 25-21 win over the Rainbow Wahine in Reed Arena.

The Panthers finished with 12 blocks to bounce back from a five-set loss to No. 25 San Diego on Friday.

UH middle blocker Tiffany Westerberg led the Rainbow Wahine (0-2) with nine kills in 21 attempts. Amber Igiede added seven kills in 17 attempts without an error in the middle. The Wahine hit. .146 as a team.

The Rainbow Wahine close the weekend by taking on No. 25 San Diego (2-0) on Sunday at 5 a.m. Hawaii time. The Toreros knocked off Pitt on Friday and swept Texas A&M 25-17, 25-15, 25-22 in today’s first match.

Buzzerio was in on two blocks and served up back-to-back aces in the first 10 points of the match and the Panthers took a 7-3 lead. Rachel Fairbanks also had consecutive aces and Buzzerio’s third of the set gave the Panthers a 19-13 margin.

Vazquez Gomez closed the set with three consecutive kills to raise her total to six for the match.

UH changed its lineup to start the second set with outside hitter Chandler Cowell and opposite Annika De Goede making their first appearances of the season. Pitt again took command early with a 9-3 opening surge. UH closed to 13-10 on a block by Westerberg and Cowell, but Pitt answered with a 3-0 run and remained in control.

The Panthers opened the third set with a 5-1 run. The lead grew to 22-16 after back-to-back Panther blocks and UH threatened with a 5-0 run with freshman Caylen Alexander on the service line.

After a Pitt timeout, Alexander’s next serve landed just wide and Pitt’s 12th block gave the Panthers match point. Juliana Dalton ended a rally with her 11th kill to end the match.

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