Pittsburgh Panthers volleyball
| Pittsburgh Panthers Volleyball | |
|---|---|
 |
|
| University | University of Pittsburgh |
| Head coach | Dan Fisher (2nd season) |
| Conference | ACC |
| Location | Pittsburgh, PA |
| Home arena | Fitzgerald Field House (Capacity: 4,122) |
| Nickname | Panthers |
| Colors | Blue and Gold |
| AIAW and NCAA Tournament Sweet Sixteen | |
| 1978, 1981, 1990 | |
| AIAW and NCAA Tournament appearances | |
| 1978, 1979, 1981, 1982, 1984, 1986, 1987, 1990, 1991, 1992, 1993, 1994, 2003, 2004, 2016 | |
| Regional AIAW Tournament appearances | |
| 1974, 1975, 1976, 1977, 1978, 1979, 1980, 1981 | |
| Conference Tournament champions | |
| 1982, 1984, 1986, 1988, 1989, 1990, 1991, 1992, 1993, 1994, 2003 | |
| Conference regular season champions | |
| 1990, 1991, 1992, 1993, 1994, 2003 | |
Pittsburgh Panthers women's volleyball is the NCAA Division I intercollegiate volleyball program of the University of Pittsburgh, often referred to as "Pitt", located in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. The Pitt volleyball team competes in the Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC) and plays their home games in Fitzgerald Field House. Since the founding of the volleyball program in 1974, the Panthers have had 35 winning seasons, one of the nation's top all-time winning percentages, appearances in 15 national championship tournaments, and while a member of the Big East Conference, the most conference tournament championships with eleven.
Pitt women's volleyball was founded in 1974 and was led during its first season by coach Mary Kromer who guided the team, originally nicknamed the Pantherettes, to a 14-3 record in their first year of existence. Perhaps more impressively, in the first year of the program, and despite the fact that two of the starters never played volleyball before, the team was invited to participate in the Eastern Association for Intercollegiate Athletics for Women (EAIAW) regional championship, where the team advanced to the quarterfinals. Kromer continued as coach for the programs second season, in which the team posted an 18-2 record and again appeared in the EAIAW regional championships.
Prior to the 1976 season, Mike Hebert, a former player at the UC-Santa Barbara who was teaching at Pitt, was asked by the university to coach the women's team although he'd never seen women play volleyball. He eventually accepted the part-time job to coach the up-start program for $1,500. Without many collegiate women's team sports in existence in the mid-1970s, Hebert and his team were pioneers who "invented things as [they] went along". Despite this, Herbert guided the Panthers to a fourth-place finish in the EAIAW championships during his first two seasons. Under his guidance, Pitt broke through to national prominence in 1978 winning the EAIAW Championship and advancing to the Association for Intercollegiate Athletics for Women (AIAW) National Large College Volleyball Championships where they finished with a 2-3 record and a 13th place national finish en route to the program's first 40-win season. His part-time position turning full-time in his final season in 1979, which saw the Panthers successfully defend their EAIAW Championship and earn a return trip to the AIWA national championships. During this span he also collected EAIAW Eastern Region Coach of the Year awards at Pitt in 1978 and 1979. Herbert, who also served as an assistant coach for Pitt's men's team for the last two years of his stay in Pittsburgh, then left, citing family reasons, to take the head coaching job at the New Mexico, eventually coaching at Illinois and Minnesota; along the way winning multiple national championships, the national coach of the year award, and earning induction into the American Volleyball Coaches Association Hall of Fame.
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