Pitt volleyball earns No. 2 seed, home match Friday to open NCAA Tournament

Pitt women’s volleyball earned a No. 2 seed as an at-large selection in the NCAA Tournament — its highest in program history — and will be the host for first- and second-round matches Friday and Saturday at Petersen Events Center.

Pitt (27-3) will meet Patriot League champion Colgate (24-5) at 7 p.m. Friday in the second of two first-round matches. Sun Belt champion James Madison (24-4) and No.7 seed BYU (21-6) will play in the first match at 4 p.m. The winners will meet in the second round at 7 p.m. Saturday.

“This is a really exciting time of year,” coach Dan Fisher said. “We’ve had great attendance at our matches lately and we have momentum coming into the tournament. We’ve proved that, at our best, we can beat anyone in the country.

“We’re hoping for a great turnout on Friday at the Pete, and, hopefully, Saturday as well. We’re all healthy and ready to make a tournament run.”

Graduate transfer and kills leader Courtney Buzzerio is looking forward to her first NCAA Tournament.

“Obviously, this being my first time in the tournament, it’s something that I’ve always wanted to do,” she said. “This is a group that I feel we can go really far with and, I think, our seeding reflects that.

“We have a chance at playing BYU again, a team we saw earlier this year so that will, hopefully, be a great chance to show everyone how much we’ve grown as a team since that win. Overall, I’m just very excited to be a part of this team and show people what we can do on this stage.”