Pitt women’s volleyball seeks to quench its thirst for national championship
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The Pitt women’s volleyball team has won 57 of 64 matches, four of the past six ACC championships and earned berths in the Elite 8 and Final Four in consecutive seasons.
Guess what?
Not good enough.
That’s not coming from an outsider. That’s the feeling inside the women’s locker room.
Chiamaka Nwokolo, a senior captain who has been a big part of all those victories, said it starts at the top with coach Dan Fisher.
Pitt volleyball coach Dan Fisher, flanked by Chiamaka Nwokolo, left, and Ashley Browske, has created a winning culture for his four-time ACC champs. pic.twitter.com/oB4tw5IEj5
— Jerry DiPaola (@JDiPaola_Trib) December 1, 2022
“One of the things that attracted me here was the want to never, ever be complacent,” said Nwokolo, a senior from Columbus, Ohio. “Fish does a good job at, when we make an accomplishment, there’s always something else to achieve.
“We’re never just OK with our successes. How can we get better? What else can we do? We went to a Final Four last year and came back in spring and said, ‘Let’s go win a national championship.’ ”
That quest becomes real Friday when Pitt serves as host for the first two rounds of the NCAA Tournament at Petersen Events Center. No. 2-seeded Pitt (27-3) plays Patriot League champion Colgate (24-5) at 7 p.m. after No. 7 BYU (21-6) meets Sun Belt champion James Madison (24-4) at 4 p.m. The winners will play at 7 p.m. Saturday for the right to advance to the Sweet 16.
Pitt defeated BYU, 3-1, on Sept. 3 (25-19, 25-22, 19-25, 25-21) in Provo, Utah, ending a 30-match home winning streak, that had dated to 2019.
Fisher, who signed a contract extension this year through 2027, breeds a culture of never being satisfied. One day nearly nine months before the start of the season, his players acted upon it.
In January, three weeks after returning from the 2021 Final Four and a semifinal loss to Nebraska, Fisher was in his office when he heard noises coming from the court.
He investigated and found that captains Nwokolo and Ashley Browske had organized a practice, apparently getting ready for the 2022 season opener Aug. 26.
“My whole team was there,” he said. “That was my first inkling that these two (Nwokolo and Browske) weren’t going to wait to see who I (named) captain.”
The women’s desire to maintain excellence might have been fueled by the knowledge that a stiff challenge awaited. Pitt lost senior All-Americans Kayla Lund, Chinaza Ndee and Leketor Member-Meneh from last year’s team, but the addition of Iowa transfer Courtney Buzzerio, an All-Big Ten player, helped fill the void. Buzzerio led Pitt in kills, with 379.
During a news conference Wednesday, Nwokolo and Browske sat on either side of Fisher, nodding in agreement with almost every word he uttered. It was a symbolic visual of the bond he has created with his players.
“We talk a lot. We have a lot of team meetings, and they’re usually about team culture,” he said. “We spend a lot of time figuring out what our values are and going toward those and then being clear about the behaviors we don’t like.”
Fisher recruits those he considers to be “very good players.” But they must fit the culture, he said.
“It wasn’t like we got the best player in the class,” he said. “We got very good players who just wanted to work hard and came in with a chip on their shoulder to prove it.”
Browske said she noticed a family atmosphere when she was being recruited from Highland Heights, Ohio.
“For me, it was the just the coaching staff and the culture,” she said. “We talk about that a lot, but it’s something special. We love each other, and we treat each other like sisters. That attraction of that family culture was unbelievable. That’s held true all my four years.”
Ranked No. 6 nationally, Pitt enters the tournament on a 20-1 run, losing only to Louisville through October and November.
“We think we have a team that can make a deep run,” Fisher said. “We think we have a team that can win a national championship. But we have to start with this weekend.”