Pitt Beats No. 3 Kentucky in Season Opener

The No.4 Pitt Panthers took down the No. 3 Kentucky Wildcats in just four sets to start the season off right. This game was played at a neutral site in the Jeep AVCA First Serve in Milwaukee.

Pitt recieved zero first place votes in the AVCA preseason poll while Kentucky got four.

Pitt set the tone of the season with a dominant win against a top-five team early on, and the star players lived up to expectations. Right-side hitter Olivia Babcock picked up where she left off last season, making four blocks and leading the team with 27 kills.

The Panthers' biggest addition of the offseason, former Penn State setter Izzy Starck, made her presence known as well. In her Pitt debut, Starck put up 41 assists, 13 digs, two kills, five blocks and zero errors. She won MVP of the game by leading the team in both assists and digs; the next highest in assists was Mallorie Meyer with four.

Izzy’s Panther Debut 😼

41 assists
13 digs
5 blocks
2 kills pic.twitter.com/eDOLZAOYFh
— Pitt Volleyball (@Pitt_VB) August 24, 2026

While it's not a surprise that Starck is a good addition, it does say a lot about how seamlessly she has been able to fit in with the team. Putting up monster numbers in a win over a team ranked one spot higher and standing out amongst her skilled teammates who have been with the program for longer shows the impact she will have.

Future Schedule

Pitt will next play unranked Xavier at the Jeep AVCA First Serve on Aug 24. The team's first home games will be held at the Petersen Event Center, playing No. 15 Kansas and No. 6 Wisconsin on Aug 28 and 30, respectively.

Despite all the hype around their new arena, Victory Heights, the team doesn't make their regular season debut until Sep 11 against Jacksonville.

The biggest game to look out for will be at Victory Heights on Sep 27 when Pitt takes on No. 5 Stanford. While Stanford is ranked a spot lower than Pitt nationally as of now, the ACC preseason Coaches Poll had Stanford as the best team in the ACC and Pitt as No. 2. Pitt and Stanford shared the 2025 ACC Championship after both finishing 18-2 in conference play.

Not many people doubt Pitt will have a good regular season or be a dominant team. After making the NCAA semifinals for five straight years, it's what is expected of the team. There's still a long time until December, when Pitt can try to finally play in the championship game, but until then the Panthers should keep proving they're one of the best teams in the country.

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