DALLAS (SMU) – The No. 15 SMU volleyball knocked off No. 1 Pitt (15-1, 5-1 ACC) Saturday inside Moody Coliseum, handing Pitt their first loss of the season with set scores of 19-25, 25-22, 13-25, 25-23, and 15-9. The win comes after the Mustangs fell to the Panthers in straight sets three days ago. 
 
The win marks the Mustangs' second win over a Top 5 ranked team this season and their fourth-ranked win of the year. SMU improved to 13-4 on the season and 5-1 in conference play in front of the second-largest home crowd (2,317) in program history.
 
Naya Shime led the Mustangs with a season-high 20 kills and six digs. Maya Tabron added 11 kills to go along with a team-high ten digs, notching her fifth double-double of the season. Brooke Frazier closely followed Tabron defensively with nine digs, her season-best.
 
Nnedi Okammor logged a career-high 12 blocks, tied for the second most blocks in a match in program history. Celia Cullen dished out 40 assists and added seven digs Saturday in Dallas. Natalie Foster tied her season-high in aces with five against the Panthers and added seven kills and two blocks.  

MATCH NOTES:

• Entering Saturday, the Panthers had only lost one set all year.
• The Mustangs have now taken down No. 1 Pittsburgh, No. 2 Nebraska, No. 13 Georgia Tech, and No. 18 Baylor this season. 
• The win ties the all-time series record between the two programs at one game each. 
• SMU hit .186 for the match with 14 blocks and seven aces.
• The Mustangs' 14 blocks are the third-highest in a match this season. 
• Natalie Foster increased her season ace total to 42, nine shy of the program record (51) set by Caroline Young in 2013. 

HOW IT HAPPENED:
SET ONE | SMU earned the first point of the match before three straight for the Panthers gave them a 3-1 advantage. Another three-point run added to Pitts' lead, giving the Panthers a 7-3 advantage. The Mustangs stayed in the fight, cutting their deficit to two (15-13) on a kill from Shime. However, the Panthers pushed their lead to five after collecting the following three points in the frame. The Mustangs were able to claw within two twice, on an ace from Foster (20-18) and then a kill from Tabron (21-19), but the Panthers finished strong with a 4-0 run to win the opening set 25-19. The Panthers hit .440 in the opening set.
                                                                                                                                        
SET TWO | The two teams battled for the first 20 points of the second set, resulting in a 10-10 tie. SMU made their move shortly after, taking the following two points on a service error by the Panthers and an ace from Foster. A Shime kill stretched the Mustangs' lead out to four, their largest lead of the match so far (17-13). The Panthers answered with points on five of the next six rallies to tie the set at 18-all. A 3-0 run for the Mustangs gave them the cushion needed to even the set score. They never allowed the Panthers to reach closer than two points down the stretch and took the second set 25-22. Tabron led the Mustangs with five kills on ten swings in the frame.
                                                                   
SET THREE | The Panthers responded like the No. 1 team in the country in the third set, taking an early 12-4 lead. A short spurt three-point swing from the Mustangs put them within six (15-9), but the Panthers controlled the remainder of the frame. They closed the set with a 5-0 run to take the frame 25-13. Pitt dominated the net in the third set with seven blocks and held the Mustangs to a -.200 hitting percentage.  
 
SET FOUR | SMU started fast in the fourth set with their backs against the wall. The Mustangs took a 6-1 lead to start the frame, but Pitt quickly erased that advantage with a 5-0 run, which trimmed the SMU lead to just one. The Panthers then took a one-point lead a few points later on a kill from Olivia Babcock. SMU didn't panic, responding with three straight points on kills from Shime and Perdue and a block from Foster and Perdue. The Mustangs eventually went up four on another kill from Shime. Pitt closed the gap to one multiple times down the stretch, but SMU maintained their edge to take set four 25-23 after three set point attempts and forced Pitt into their first five-set match of the year. Shime led the Mustangs again with six kills, and SMU started to take control of the net with five blocks compared to only one by the Panthers.  
 
SET FIVE | The Mustangs took the first two points of the fifth set on kills from Foster and Perdue. SMU stretched that lead to three (8-5) on a kill from Shime before the teams switched sides to close out the fifth set. After the switch, the Panthers put two points together to reach within one. However, SMU answered with three straight and then controlled the remainder of the frame. The Panthers could only mustard two points down the stretch as SMU closed out the match on fire, collecting six of the final eight points to win it, capped off with an ace from Foster, her fifth of the game. SMU hit an impressive .643 in the fifth set, led by Shime, with four kills on six swings.
 
SMU LEADERS:
SMU Kills Leader: Naya Shime (20)
SMU Assist Leader: Celia Cullen (40)
SMU Digs Leader: Maya Tabron (10)
SMU Blocks Leader: Nnedi Okammor (12)

SMU Ace Leader: Natalie Foster (5)

 
UP NEXT:    
SMU Volleyball will host Stanford at Moody Coliseum on Saturday at 1 p.m. CT, airing on the ACC Network. For all things SMU Volleyball, follow the program on Instagram, X, and Facebook.