Pitt volleyball chases history with a hunter's mindset

"What do you think of the blue on blue?" Fisher asks, tugging at the end of his right sleeve with his left fingers.

The ukulele-playing, cough-drop-sucking coach knows details matter when you're trying to join an exclusive club that has admitted exactly three new members in the past three decades. Pitt has come agonizingly close to joining the group of NCAA volleyball champions in each of the past three seasons but has been denied. This season, the Panthers are ranked No. 1 for the first time in program history, and are steadfast in their belief they won't fall short again.

Among the players assessing their coach's attire from their lockers is Olivia Babcock, a sophomore with a thunderous jump serve and a lightning-quick spike. There, too, is All-American Rachel Fairbanks, a setter with hands as precise as a surgeon's. And then there's Valeria Vazquez Gomez, a sixth-year senior who has shepherded the squad from grateful tournament invitee to three-time national semifinalist to, unbelievably, favorite.

The Panthers are 103 minutes away from playing nine-time national champion Stanford, a team they've faced four times before and lost every time. A win would be another historic first for the program.

The players give their coach a collective thumbs-up on his outfit before the light mood turns serious.

"We need to be in hunter mindset," Fisher says, his gaze piercing. "We're getting closer to the tournament -- this is the kind of team we need to be able to beat if we want to go deep."

Then Stanford emerges on a projector screen at the far end of the room. The players sit up tall. They watch clips of the Cardinal, pausing each time setter Kami Miner jumps in the air. They guess where she's going to set the ball. "Outside." "Slide." "Dump." They're on point. Once they're done, the team looks at Fisher expectantly.

He tells them to trust their senses. In a hunt, details matter. Instinct matters.

"We've done a lot of work, we've watched a lot of video this week," Fisher says. "The reason is so we don't have to think in game -- just trust what you see, that's way better than what's on a paper."

Associate head coach Kellen Petrone takes over for the "rehearsal."