Aggies sweep Pitt to reach NCAA title game

KANSAS CITY, Mo. — In the moments before Texas A&M’s match against Pitt in the NCAA women’s volleyball semifinals, coach Jamie Morrison had simple message.

“We are here,” he told his team. “We are here.”

The meaning was for A&M to stay true to its identity.

The Aggies did with three-set sweep over Pitt and will play for their first national title at 2:30 p.m. on Sunday against either Kentucky or Wisconsin, which played later Thursday in the other semifinal.

A&M’s identity — “we are the grittiest,” senior Logan Lednicky said after last week’s regional win over Nebraska — has power hitters in Lednicky and Kyndal Stowers up front, the middle blocking of Ifenna Coas-Okpalla and the “quarterbacking” of Maddie Waak.

Texas A&M won the first set, 29-27, on its fifth match point on a kill by Stowers, who had nine in the first set with no errors.

A&M appeared to have won earlier on a kill by Lednicky at 25-23 but the ball was ruled out, reversing the score to 24-24. Pitt would have its own set point later but didn’t convert.

In the second set, the Aggies fell behind 15-11 after an 8-0 run by Pitt but answered. Cos-Okpalla blocked a shot by Olivia Babcock to set up set point at 24-21 and A&M got the win when Babcock’s next attempt at a kill went long.

In what turned out to be the deciding third set, A&M took its first lead at 11-10 on a strong serve by Waak. The Aggies finished it off at 25-20.

“We just played good volleyball and had fun,” Morrison said. “It’s pretty simple. They have a lot of grit and anytime another team makes a run, they answer. A lot of belief in that group.”

A&M’s sweep was the first in an NCAA semifinal since Nebraska’s win over Pitt in 2023. Pitt was making its fifth consecutive appearance in the Final Four but has yet to win a title.

Reid Laymance reported from Houston.