Moody Coliseum. It’s the place where the dreams of undefeated top-two teams die, apparently. After SMU knocked off then-No. 2 Nebraska in a sweep in early September, the Mustangs pulled off an even more impressive upset with a mid-October win over Pittsburgh, 3-2 (19-25, 25-22, 13-25, 25-23, 15-9).
SMU’s win comes three days after the Panthers swept the Mustangs in Pittsburgh. Until Saturday, Pitt had only lost one set the entire season. But the Mustangs regrouped after a 12-point defeat in the third set to take the fourth.
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— SMU Volleyball (@SMUVolleyball) October 12, 2024
SMU 25 #PonyUpDallas pic.twitter.com/PIxAoAo7np
SMU then had Pitt in unfamiliar territory — a fifth set. The Panthers haven’t played in a fifth set since a win in the regional finals last year. The Mustangs had familiarity with clutch moments, winning a five-set match six days ago. That familiarity paid off.
HOW IT HAPPENED: Complete stats from SMU's stunner
SMU took a 2-0 lead and never looked back. While Pitt would later cut the lead to 8-7, the Mustangs went on a 5-1 run to put Pitt’s first loss within reach. The game concluded with an ace from Natalie Foster, her fifth of the game — the same number of aces Foster had in SMU’s previous highest-ranked win in program history against Nebraska.
Naya Shime led the Mustangs with 20 kills on .289 hitting.
