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Joe Maddon thinks Major League Baseball has issues. You might find them relatable

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8 months ago

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Joe Maddon thinks Major League Baseball has issues. You might find them relatable

Editor’s Note: This story is a part of Peak, The Athletic’s new desk covering leadership, personal development and success through the lens of sports. Peak aims to connect readers to ideas they can implement in their own personal and professional lives. Follow Peak here.

There is no shortage of people who criticize the influence of data and analytics in baseball these days. I knew Joe Maddon had become one of those critics, but I also knew something else: Maddon was the manager of the Tampa Bay Rays when the organization was at the forefront of the analytics revolution in the 2000s.

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That is part of the reason I wanted to talk to Maddon, who also won a World Series with the Chicago Cubs and managed the LA Angels. But there was another reason: I had a hunch that other people feel the same tension — caught between two worlds — in their own professional lives. I know I do.

In so many aspects of my life, there is an overwhelming amount of data and information available, from how many people read my stories to how much time I spend on my phone each week. At times, it feels like data dictates too much of my life, or at least influences too many of my decisions. Isn’t there value in just doing something because your instinct tells you it’s the right decision? In a world full of information, should we still trust our gut and creative impulses?

That’s what Maddon and I talked about during our conversations over multiple interviews, edited and condensed for clarity.

If you’re a baseball fan, you’ll probably find plenty to argue about. And if you’re not a baseball fan, or even much of a sports fan, I hope there are ideas on leadership, creativity and criticism that feel relevant to you.

You sent me something you wrote in which you said that your definition of leadership has changed. How? 

In the past, I always received direction from whoever was in charge, but then I was permitted to go out and do the job as I perceived was the right way to do it. I’ll give you an example. When I first started as a bench coach in the mid-90s, there was no pamphlet on how to be a bench coach. I didn’t get any direction. The assumption was that I was there to advise the manager on a daily basis, primarily during the course of the game. Before games, I would put together scouting reports and breakdowns. I didn’t get any real direction on that either.

My point is, when I started doing that, nobody told me what to do. At all. I built all these programs because I felt, if I was a manager, this is what I would want. I was empowered to be the bench coach. I felt free to do my job. I never felt controlled. I felt the exact opposite.

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So what’s changed?

As a coach, I’m not out there creating my own methods. I’m following the methods that are being given to me, primarily through data and information. Which is good. Because when it comes to data today, it’s not just me scouting the other team. Data today combines every play, every pitch, so of course it’s going to be accurate. But the point is, all of that stuff is taken from upstairs (the front office) to downstairs (the coaches). There’s no leeway to make adjustments anymore based on what you see.

When I was with the Angels, Brian Butterfield, my infield coach, would want to make micro-adjustments during a game based on defense, where a hitter might be late on the ball. All of a sudden, the ball is going away from the planned spot. But if he moved the infielders, as an example, after the game he was told: “Just play the dots.” In other words, coaches became neutered because if you attempted to do that, that was considered going rogue. Just follow the dots. Stop thinking. Stop using your experience. Stop using your sense of feel and what you’re seeing. Just follow the dots.

Just to make sure I understand what you’re saying: You think leaders need to give people information, but then empower them to make their own decisions, not restrict them.

Yes.

Let me ask you this: Why does this change bother you?

Because it neuters your years of work. And it doesn’t permit you to react to a situation that you absolutely see as being different. All these numbers are based on large sample sizes, and I understand that. To me, a large sample size is pretty much infallible when it comes down to acquisitions in the offseason. But it is fallible when it comes down to trends in the moment.

So when you’re talking about how to set my defense on August 15, or how to pitch somebody on August 15, I need something more immediate and not just a large sample size. What is he like right now? Has he changed? Has he lost his confidence, or is he more confident than he’s ever been? There are fluctuations with people. That’s my problem: It bothers me that coaches, managers, whoever are not permitted to use their years of experience to make adjustments in the moment based on what they see.

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The game tends to be unpredictable, and in a hot moment you have to be able to be creative and flexible when you’re actually seeing something.

We’re talking specifically about your experience with baseball, but I think a lot of people in a lot of different jobs feel this real tension between data and feel or creativity, whatever you want to call it.

Agreed. I do a lot of talks about this, and I try to address all of this. It has to be understood that, first of all, I’m into all of this stuff. I want the numbers. I want analytics. I want you to give me stuff in advance. Absolutely I want all of that. But once you’ve given it to me, you have to understand that this is a fluid exercise. Theory and reality are two completely different worlds. So when theory starts breaking down during the course of a game, then it becomes reality. If it always goes according to script, God bless you, that’s wonderful. But that rarely ever happens. So, for me, feel and experience allow you to see things a little bit in advance that maybe someone else can’t see or feel. That’s where a manager or a coach can make a difference.

That’s where I’m really trying to explain myself, and I think executives and people in other industries feel the same way. They feel hamstrung. Because they’re being controlled as opposed to empowered. Everybody wants information; nobody wants to run away from good information. But you always have to feel the empowerment to remain flexible and make snap decisions when things just don’t seem to be going well or right. Because when things get hot, things get quicker and people change. You have to be able to read that in order to make the necessary adjustments based on this moment. And that’s what I believe is the gift of experience. Feel is the gift of experience.


Maddon believed it was important to have relationships and know his players. (Photo by Jim Rogash/Getty Images)

You shared something with me that you sent to your players when you were the manager in Tampa. You wrote: “Conventional Wisdom be damned. We are in the process of creating our own little world. Our way of doing things. The Ray Way. To those of you who feel as though this sounds ‘corny’ wait a couple of years and you will see how corny turns into ‘cool,’ and everyone stands in line to copy our methods.” What I loved about that, Joe, is that in many ways, you were part of the process with the Rays that created the world that we’re in. What do you make of that?

The Rays at that time were kind of ahead of the curve. That’s when being analytically inclined was in the minority and being old school was in majority. Now the tables have turned.

I’ve always loved that saying, “corny becomes cool,” because we used to be criticized for the things we did. For example, shifting. The four-man outfield we used. We were criticized heavily for that. They think they know everything! But it’s gotten to the point now where it’s taken on another life, almost to where it’s become an extreme. I like the word balance. I don’t like extremism either way, either too conservative or too liberal. I believe I’m a centrist even in the baseball world. I think in my life I am. I want to see both sides. I want to incorporate everything.

So I’m not advocating for all old school. Not at all. Not even a bit. I’m advocating for balance.

You told me once that from day one, you told your players: “You have my trust and now I have to earn yours.” Why did you say that?

Because I wanted them to understand how important that was. I wanted them to know that, from my perspective, there were 40 guys on the team, all with different personalities. They had my trust and I needed to really infiltrate each one of them so they would trust me in return.

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How did you do that? 

You don’t miss things. You have to see things. You know when someone needs your help, you know when you have to stand out of the way, you know what guys you can be more blunt with and who will crumble from bluntness. You have to read every individual, and it only happens through a daily discourse.

You texted me something: “Wear your thick skin. Criticism is not taken as an attack … but as a debate seeking the best possible answers.” I’m so thin-skinned. Painfully thin-skinned. How did you develop thick skin?

Wow. Well, I grew up in eastern Pennsylvania. I was a quarterback when I was 10. I was calling audibles when I was 10. I called all my plays in a huddle when I was 10. When I screwed up, those coaches, Richie and Si, they beat me up a little bit. One time I threw an interception and they said I quit on trying to tackle the guy. They told me I was a quitter. I was 11, and we only lost one game in the three years that I started at quarterback. But they called me a quitter one day.

High school football. Adam Sieminski. Toughest, toughest mother I’ve ever had to play for anywhere. He’d chew you out up and down on the sideline during a game. It would be 25 degrees and he’d be out there in a short-sleeve shirt and I’d go to talk to him and his teeth would be chattering so hard I couldn’t understand a damn thing he said. But he wanted to show us how tough he was. And he was.

I mean, these are the guys who made me tough. You had to wear it. Your skin gets thicker, you become more calloused. And eventually you get to the point where you can have a good, open, blistering debate or conversation.

Bob Clear, my mentor of all mentors. I did this instructional league in the ’80s. That morning in the Arizona Republic I’d seen a picture of Mark McGwire with his hands on the bat, palm up, palm down, and I was saying how much I loved that picture and his hand placement. And Bob said: “You’re full of s—. The hands should be in this position. What the f— are you talking about?” I said: “F— you, Bob!” And we argued for 30 minutes, back and forth, screaming at each other. And then we walked out on the field arm in arm.

I respected — I adored — this guy, but because we could argue like that, I learned. He always used to tell me: “I’m just trying to make you think.” That’s it. I’m just trying to make you think. You try to do that now and people crumble.

One thing I struggle with: When people go through tough stuff like that, they can become really thankful for it. But I’m also always a little leery of nostalgia, because it can sometimes erase how miserable those times were. Where do you stand on that? Tough coaching, the appropriate way to treat people, that’s all an active conversation now.

I just like straightforwardness. There’s a great line: Honesty without compassion equals cruelty. So you always have to gauge your honesty and what they can take. But I just would prefer seeing a little more straightforwardness and not dissembling or providing a soft landing because I don’t think that’s helping anyone.

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Listen, I’m not talking about parting somebody’s hair all the time. But you can’t always paint it in a way or else the person you’re speaking to is going to miss the point. You’ve got to make sure that it’s firm enough. Understand your audience, always. But one of my lines is: If I tell you the truth, you might not like me for five or 10 days. But if I lie to you, then you’re going to hate me forever.


Maddon led the Chicago Cubs to the franchise’s first World Series title in 108 years. (Nuccio DiNuzzo / Getty Images)

You told me once when you were coaching in the instructional league that you sat down with every player to go over not just their strengths but to hammer their weaknesses.

I took a piece of paper and made it into quadrants and created a form on my laptop, which weighed about 25 pounds at the time. This was all me; I didn’t get any input from any of the coaches or the front office. Nobody. This was just my scouting acumen at work because not everybody was on board with this.

The top left quadrant would be positives. Top right quadrant would be negatives. The bottom left quadrant would be after they heard my positives and negatives, they would tell me their idea of what they wanted to get out of the instructional league. And then the bottom right would be the summary that I would write based on the positives, negatives, their input and then what I saw. I would give them that piece of paper. Why?

Because when a player walks out on a field — minor league, major league, doesn’t matter — there’s always a sense of: “What do they really think about me? How do they see me? What’s the plan for me?” I used to hear that all the time: “What’s the plan?” So I figured if we could get this out in the open early, then when we saw each other on or off the field, there would be nothing in the background lurking. I think it’s the most open and honest way to create relationships and communication.

What do you think baseball has gotten wrong about leadership? Not just analytics but leadership.

It’s not just baseball. Very simply put: I always felt that I was hired to do a job and then permitted to do my job. I feel like in today’s world, people are hired to do a job only the way they want them to do the job. The outline they’re going to give you to do the job. It prevents the imagination from soaring. It prevents creativity. The moment you feel restricted, your imagination ceases to exist. Because why go there? Why ever ponder in bed at night? Why grind all day long over lunch? Why grind over different ways to make something better?

One thing that I struggle with is that we have such easy access to every kind of metric or piece of data. For instance, with our stories, we can see exactly how many people are in them at any moment, how long they’re spending, when they stop reading. 

Wow.

What I think our whole conversation is circling back to is we’re in a real tension between data versus art, or whatever you want to call it. I would guess that that’s applicable in almost any field. We’re all overloaded with data and we almost use data as a safety net. I get why; it is comforting. But I think we’ve got to leave room for instinct and experimentation.

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Here’s one thing I wrote the other day. I was driving and sending texts to myself so I wouldn’t forget: Can data replace talent as the number one reason why groups are successful? Can numbers teach poise? Can numbers teach competitive nature? Can numbers teach instinct?

This is what I think has become blurred a bit. Everybody thinks analytics is the reason; it’s not. It’s not the reason. The reason why the Dodgers are good? They have a good analytical department, but they’ve got really good talent. They’re able to acquire good talent and pay them, but they do a good job of identifying talent. Data and analytics, that’s the number one superstar component of that. That’s where you really do a good job. That’s why the Brewers have been good, that’s why the Rays have been good: They’re able to look under the hood and identify talent that nobody else sees. That, to me, is where analytics really shine.

But can numbers teach poise? Can numbers teach competitiveness? Can numbers teach instinct? Those are the things that separate winners and losers.

You can read last week’s interview with Tara VanDerveer, one of the winningest basketball coaches of all time, here.

(Illustration: Eamonn Dalton / The Athletic; Sean M. Haffey / Getty Images)

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Sports

Volleyball Ends Season With Elite Eight Loss

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13 minutes ago

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December 14, 2025

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LEXINGTON, Ky. — Creighton Volleyball’s first Final Four appearance will have to wait, as the No. 11 Bluejays fell in three sets at the Regional Final for a second straight season at No. 2 Kentucky on Saturday evening in Lexington, Ky.  Scores of the match in favor of UK were 25-19, 25-13, 25-18.

With its 26th consecutive win, Kentucky (29-2) will play the winner of tomorrow evening’s winner between No. 3 Texas and No. 10 Wisconsin in Austin, Texas. That national semifinal will take place on Thursday night in Kansas City, Mo. Creighton ends Brian Rosen‘s first season at the helm with a 28-6 record after tasting defeat for the first time since Sept. 16

Creighton and Kentucky were tied at 14-all in the first set before Kentucky pulled away with a 5-0 run and ended up taking a 25-19 decision. UK All-Americans Brooklyn DeLeye and Eva Hudson both had six kills as UK had 17 kills to CU’s nine. Nora Wurtz had three aces in the frame, setting CU’s single-season school record of 59 set by Molly Moran in 2000.

The second set was all UK, as the hosts raced to leads of 7-1 and 12-4 and never trailed in a 25-13 victory to move in front 2-0. DeLeye had seven kills and the Wildcats hit .289 while holding CU to .000 hitting in 43 swings.

The third set featured seven ties and three lead changes before UK closed out the sweep with a 25-18 win.

DeLeye paced the Wildcats with 18 kills and added 12 digs, while Hudson had a double-double with 13 kills and 15 digs. The Wildcats had 47 kills, 62 digs, eight blcoks and two aces on .263 hitting.

Martin and Johnson led Creighton with eight kills and Annalea Maeder had her fourth straight double-double with 26 assists and 13 digs. Creighton hit .066 and had 29 kills, 47 digs, nine blocks and three aces.

The match marked the final contest for Bluejay seniors Ava Martin, Kiara Reinhardt, Annalea Maeder and Sky McCune.

NOTES: Creighton’s Ava Martin and Sydney Breissinger were named to the Lexington Regional All-Tournament Team … Creighton had its 23-match win streak snapped, which was tied for the second-longest in program history … Kentucky has won 22 straight matches at home … Creighton’s nine-match win streak in true road matches was snapped, which tied a school-record … Creighton fell to 0-14 all-time against teams ranked first or second … Creighton is now 20-15 all-time in 15 NCAA Tournament appearances … Creighton had been trying to become the first school without football to make the Volleyball Final Four since Santa Clara in 2005 … Five of Creighton’s losses this season came to teams ranked in the top-five at the time of the match (#1 Nebraska, #2 Penn State, #2 Kentucky, #4 Louisville, #5 Texas). … Ava Martin tied Jaali Winters (595.5 in 2015) for most points in a single-season in Creighton history … Each of Creighton’s last 27 matches have been won by the team to win the first set.

Below is the NCAA VB Lexington Regional All-Tournament Team as voted by media present at the event. 

Brooklyn DeLeye – Kentucky* (*Most Outstanding Player)

Ava Martin – Creighton 

Sydney Breissinger – Creighton 

Molly Tuozzo – Kentucky

Lizzie Carr – Kentucky

Eva Hudson – Kentucky 

Noemie Glover – Arizona State

Kentucky Postgame Quotes

Kentucky Head Coach Craig Skinner

Opening Statement…

“I’m just really proud of our team and the performance that they had this weekend was impressive, and we asked our team to be relentless and we were relentless all evening and you can’t thank our players for giving themselves to this team and this program enough. They have done it all year long and can’t thank our administration enough for giving us the resources to build a special program. So, it takes a collective effort, a lot of people to get to this point and want our players to build and experience a Final Four, which we’ve got that chance to do. It’s awesome. But our job isn’t finished and we’ve got to get ready to play some good volleyball in Kansas City, so magical season needs to continue.”

 

On what it means to coach in Memorial Coliseum for the tournament…

“A lot, magical stuff. It’s just it’s hard to do. It takes a collective effort and administrators, coaches, people, players, staff, managers, all of that. I’ve been there before, done it, and obviously I can’t wait to do it again, but I just want our players to be able to feel what it’s like to be at that level, because it’s a really cool experience, and I don’t worry about the effort we’re going to give on Thursday night, so I just I want to make sure we can enjoy the opportunity and anything happens in the Final Four.”

 

On the crowd …

“It’s a dream to do that, and it’s hard to convince people by just saying it and talking about it and I just felt like I had to do something that would get the attention to people that don’t pay attention to volleyball. And so now that they’ve come, they’re hooked, and they’re gonna be hooked for a while, it just is an exciting brand of sports and, you know, a rising tide lifts all boats, and the more we can do for the University of Kentucky, and the other teams in this department, it makes us all better. We can’t do that without the help of administration to see the value in volleyball.”

 

On the effort the entire team puts into defense…

“One hundred percent. To hold a team like that to .066 is a lot to do with your defense, and you know, it’s a mentality. We have to establish a defensive mentality in practice.  We hammer balls at them all the time, they’re flying all over the gym, making plays. We have a couple rules, we’ll reason why you don’t go for the ball; that would be out of bounds, hear the whistle, or some sort of danger is in the way. Outside of that, you better go for the ball. But it’s just, you have to set that in practice, and we’ve spent a lot of time this year, just hammering that into our team, and it’s, man, it’s fun to watch, too.”

 

On what Eva Hudson has contributed to the team this year…

“Yeah, I just thank Eva for giving Kentucky a chance the third time, twice striking out to get her here and I think she saw something in this program that could bring something out of her. But I think everybody in the stand sees the level of competitor that she is, and there is zero that will fear her in the eyes of competition. It’s fun to be a part of people like that, and when you have people like these two at the table and others that are just competitors every single day, they’re going to win in life and Eva is, there’s no doubt about that. She’s going to win in life because she’s relentless in what she does, and I think people want to watch her play all the time.”

 

Kentucky Student-Athletes

#7 Eva Hudson, OH

On her last game in HMC …

“I mean it was absolutely magical. Every time they exceed expectations our whole team has for them. There was a time there at the end when I just looked around when it got really chaotic and it was a really cool experience and I just can’t thank them enough for an amazing year.”

 

On the team’s defense …

“Craig asked us to be relentless all evening. That sort of defense is so frustrating, one of your best shots and it being dug up. That was our mindset every time.”

 

On flipping the switch to another level in the second half …

“In the first, especially the first few points of the first set it was hard to find the rhythm with a game with so much pressure and a lot of high expectations, but I think in the second and third, we really found groove, our flow state, and we just capitalized on it.”

 

#17 Brooklyn DeLeye

On the team’s defense …

“Also props to the staff, I mean they really had a good game plan going into the match and I think we just executed that at a high level. Even if Creighton was making changes throughout the match, they were still telling us every single time we were at the net what to do.”

 

On Trinity’s play …

“You know she’s just one of the hardest workers out there, and I know when she got her shot to come in to serve she was going to make the most out of it. So, I mean, just props to her and just the person she is, because she was just a huge momentum shift whether that was her serving or just her presence out there, she will be your biggest hype man.”

 

Creighton Postgame Quotes

Creighton Head Coach Brian Rosen

On Kentucky’s serving…

“I thought our service did a nice shot. We had them under a 2 for most of the match. So I thought we did a decent job there. They shot well, their outsides were obviously really good, and even when we defended some of the balls, we just couldn’t find a way to win some of those long rallies. I just thought their defense tonight was the difference. They were an arm and ball back up. We ended up with nine blocks. I thought we could have had 18 tonight. They covered so well, just kept plays alive long enough for their outsides to terminate eventually. And so again, I just I give them a lot of credit for that. We fought as long as we could and just couldn’t find those stretches late in the first and the third when I thought we had chances.”

 

On Ava and Kiara …

“They’re like the two people that I knew the most and met when I took this job as an assistant a long time ago. Ava played on the same club team as a player I had just committed at a previous stop. I was the head coach at Nova Southeastern University before I got here, and committed a kid named Taylor Stockman to that program, and Ava was on the same team. And so I knew her really well when I came here, and then Kiara was the only athlete that I met when I was on my visit. They are just two really special individuals, getting Kiara to come back for the sixth year, allowed us to have the run that we had, her play is really, really good, and I think she’s one of the best middles in the country. But what she does beyond that is so much more important to our program. She’s the best leader, and the best teammate and does everything the right way, and then she jokes about being the team mom, and she really is. Even in her six years, making sure everyone has the right jerseys and spandex and all those kinds of things, but also brings so much joy. And Ava, the way she plays and competes is a pleasure to watch. I mean, sometimes in practices and film, the amount of times like my mouth drops watching her play is just remarkable. This is her last college game. I’m excited that she was able to go on this run, excited to watch her play at the next level. She’s earned this opportunity to play in the pro leagues and have a great career. She’s just special good and always shows up in the big moments and the two of them, the mark that they’ve left on our program, I know Kiara will be the winningest player to ever play at Creighton and it’s going to be hard for anyone to beat that. Ava, I believe, like just set the postseason record for kills. She’ll finish top three in her career and maybe cement herself as the best player to ever play at Creighton, and we have a pretty good list of players so it says a lot about who she is.”

 

On crowd atmosphere…

“I think volleyball has been booming for years now. It started with the woman behind you. I see Kathy DeBoer back there, putting volleyball on her back and trying to grow it as much as she could. When I was at Nova, she called me to start a beach team once. It’s grown and grown and grown since I started getting into it and starting watching it, and so I love that moments like this are now on ESPN. We got to get the first and second rounds on ESPN too. So I love that it’s on TV more. I know tonight there was a Kentucky men’s basketball game I heard down the street and still sold this place out tonight, which says a lot about a place that I know at one point was a basketball school. Maybe they’re a volleyball school now. We like to joke that we’re volleyball school too. And so I think so many fans and communities are seeing like how special this sport is. I think it’s the most spectator friendly sport there is. It’s so fast paced, it’s so athletic, it’s physical, it’s gritty, it’s fun. And so I’m just so grateful that all these fans are getting to see this in person, and people are able to see it at home, and I hope even though it didn’t go the way we wanted, I hope the match was fun for viewers to see, and they come back and watch more next time.”

 

On the message to the team in the locker room after the loss…

“I love them. I said that before but just that I love them. I’m so grateful to them. Again, back in April, when Coach Booth stepped down, every single one of them could have left. You know, even (Ava) Martin could have got a lot of money to go to a lot of places and chose to stay here and fight and wear that Creighton blue. And Kiara could have said, you know, never mind on the sixth year, but all of them stayed committed to represent Creighton, to play for me and for this staff. And so the biggest thing I told them was that I love them and how grateful I am to them for not just sticking with me, but showing up every day and fighting like crazy, not just for me, but for the people next to them. And, you know, the two things that I talked about in my first press conference was I’m gonna fight to keep the culture, and we’re gonna keep the same goals of going to a final four. These two and everyone else in that locker room are our culture. And they did everything they could to protect it this season. And obviously, we fell a few sets short of going to a final four this year, but I’m so proud of the fight they had. I don’t know how many people anywhere put us in an elite eight this season with losing 4 all Americans and all the things we did. But I know they did. And so just grateful for them and for all they did this season for our Creighton community.”

 

Creighton Student-Athletes

#8 Ava Martin, OH

On making adjustments…

“It’s always frustrating when things aren’t going your way. Their swings, I feel like they would just have little things that nothing really seemed to go our way. It happens, and I think it stinks and obviously we’re trying to make adjustments throughout the game, but our main goal was just to keep going for it.”

 

On playing for Creighton’s and what it means to her…

“I just have so much love for Creighton volleyball. Oh, I mean, even with Booth leaving I think all of us had it down our mind that we would stay just because of what we have here, and culture is so special and so amazing, and even the people that transfer in, they really let us know how lucky we are to have what we do. And our big thing is playing with joy, and I really hope other people can do that because we just have so much fun out there playing together, and that’s what we really want to show. We’ve had a good time and we love each other, and we want other people be able to see that as well. I think that’s just what makes us so hard is because we just love each other so much and we love the sport and volleyball and we’re just happy to be out there playing. Obviously we have big goals, final four and all those things, so that stinks, but I think one of the main things is just, you know, our time, together being done. It’s just really hard. And I’m just so thankful for Creighton. It’s just had very special place.”

 

On the program moving forward…

“It’s something we talk about every year. Obviously, it stings, and I wish we had another chance to get it back. The team next year is going to want to keep working for that too. I think it’s just an expectation here at Creighton now, to keep building off that and keep getting better. And yeah, obviously this hurts, but they’re going to get back in the gym this offseason and they’re going to continue to keep working toward that goal.”

 

#5 Kiara Reinhardt, MB

On Creighton’s play tonight… 

“I mean I thought our serve receive was pretty strong all throughout the match. We were in system a lot and our defense, especially in the third set, we were scrapping, unfortunately, offensively. I think we weren’t where we wanted to be tonight. Again, cuddos to Kentucky’s defense they did great. I think defense and serve receive we were really good at tonight. I think there were, especially those small hard tough rallies that were just kind of a lot of junk kind of being thrown around. I mean, we were in a lot of those, and there were so many of them tonight, I feel like. So, I hope those showed a little bit of good tonight.”

 

On going through the last postseason run and showing the new players the ropes…

“It’s been a joy. I’ll remember you all, especially since you’re seniors just below me. I’m so thankful for the time I got to spend here. A lot of people said, ‘Wow, you really got them all, you’re so lucky,’ and it truly has been an honor and a privilege. They’ve kept me young and they’ve kept me laughing, and honestly, I got a lot more out of this than I expected by coming back for another year. It was really special to be able to connect with some of the younger girls I hadn’t spent much time with before, and to get to know them better. They’re such a sweet and special group, and I’m really so grateful.”

 



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Pitt women’s volleyball outlasts Purdue for 5th straight trip to Final Four

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The Pitt women’s volleyball team (30-4, 18-2 ACC), behind Olivia Babcock’s 23 kills, defeated No. 3 Purdue, 3-1 (25-22, 25-21, 22-25, 25-17), sending the Panthers to their fifth straight Final Four.

Up 23-17 in Set 4, Brooke Mosher buried two straight powerful service aces to send Pitt past Purdue. Mosher tallied three aces for the match.

“That was insane,” Mosher said. “I mean, ending on an ace is something I wouldn’t have expected, but being able to see that ball drop and go to the final four is just insane.”

The Panthers won their 52nd straight match at home and their 15th straight at Peterson Events Center.

Their victory over Purdue was full-circle as their first Final Four appearance in 2021 came after a win over Purdue.

Pitt is the fourth team in NCAA history to make it to the Final Four five straight seasons.

Babcock, the reigning ACC and AVCA East region player of the year, took home the regional MVP by racking up 79 kills in the tournament so far. Babcock posted a .375 hitting percentage in the deciding game.

“I just think the fact that we’re able to just keep doing this just shows how strong of a team we are consistently,” Babcock said. “I just feel like we put in so much work this season, so I feel like this season it means a lot more.”

Pitt’s Marina Pezelj tallied 14 kills and 12 digs to give the Panthers momentum in the second set.

“She was doing a lot well,” coach Dan Fisher said. “I think she came up with some big blocks. Her passing was stable. Offensively, she just she made really good choices. I think she had about five shove kills when she saw those openings, which is kind of Purdue’s game. I think she was really in the moment making good decisions.”

Mosher led the Panthers with four blocks,and Bre Kelley tallied three.

Pezelj and Mosher were nominated for the Pittsburgh All-Regional team along with Babcock.

“It’s just a testament to how much work we put in and how hard we fought these past two games,” Babcock said. “It’s hard to move on, let alone be in the group of people who get honored for this, because it’s so hard to get here. I feel like there’s just so many good players, and the fact that we had players on our team who were able to step up for this occasion and help our team get these two wins just means a lot.”

Purdue found itself down 2-0. The Boilermakers, in their 11th straight tournament, battled back. With a 25-22 win in Set 3, Purdue, which notched three reverse sweeps on the season, looked to do it again.

Purdue was led by Akasha Anderson, who delivered 20 kills, and Kenna Wollard, who tallied 15. Dior Charles delivered nine blocks, and Taylor Anderson notched 51 assists.

Despite Purdue having the personnel, the Panthers were too strong to allow a comeback.

“I’m very proud of this team,” Wollard said. “I think we played a pretty clean game. Olivia Babcock is just an amazing player, and we did everything we had to try and stop her. And then they have some players that help her out and can get kills themselves too. You have to be perfect stopping them and you just get to the point where you can’t get enough, but I’m really proud of this team.”

Purdue’s Wollard, Akasha Anderson and Ryan McAleer were nominated for the all-regional team. SMU’s Malaya Jones rounded out the squad.

Anderson kept pounding away at the Panthers down 12-10 in the final set. Three straight Panther blocks and a vicious Babcock spike put them up 13-10, which gave Pitt momentum.

The Boilermakers led the first set early with a kill from Wollard that had them up 10-8. Back-to-back kills from Blaire Bayless and Kelley tied it 10-10.

Babcock notched a kill that put the Panthers up 11-10. They led the rest of the first set.

A Babcock kill and a Mallorie Meyer ace extended Pitt’s lead to 22-19 as it pulled away with the first set. Babcock racked up nine kills, including the last one of the set.

The Panthers went up 12-8 in the second set. Purdue, however, went on a 6-1 run led by Anderson to take a 14-13 lead. Babcock continued to step up. A Babcock block and an error on Purdue gave Pitt a 16-15 lead.

The Panthers didn’t look back and at 24-21, Mosher and Kelley blocked Anderson to earn the set.

Babcock tallied five kills, and Marina Pezelj notched three kills in Set 2.

The Boilermakers came out firing in the third set and didn’t trail once.

Down 17-14, Pezelj notched a kill, and a Mosher block cut it to 17-16. The Panthers inched back and tied it 24-24, but the Boilermakers had momentum as they finished with the 25-22 set win.

This led to Pitt owning the final set.

Purdue coach Dave Shondell congratulated Pitt.

“Dan Fisher has just done one of the most amazing jobs of of coaching in the history of the sport, by taking a team at Pittsburgh, that for so many years was just good … they couldn’t get over the hump — the same hump that we haven’t been able to get over at Purdue — and now five years in a row is in the Final Four. That doesn’t happen without somebody in charge that really knows how to build a program.”

As for Pitt, it faces undefeated Nebraska in the Final Four.

“It’s just surreal,” Mosher said. “It’s something I’ve dreamed of since I was little, and to be able to do it with this team is just incredible.”





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Pitt volleyball advances to fifth consecutive Final Four, beating Purdue

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Pitt tops Purdue for fifth straight trip to NCAA volleyball Final Four

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Updated Dec. 13, 2025, 10:16 p.m. ET



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