That’s right, this is an article about women’s college volleyball.

The Pitt Panthers women’s team advanced to its third-straight Final Four after defeating Louisville, 3-2, at the Fitzgerald Field House in Pittsburgh on Saturday.

The Panthers fell behind 2-0 before completing the reverse sweep by scores of 25-16, 25-19 and 15-7.

Who saw this coming from a Pitt women’s volleyball program that was essentially an afterthought not long ago? Perhaps it was athletic director Heather Lyke, who vowed to make all of Pitt athletics a priority–not just football and men’s basketball–when she accepted the job in 2017.

Under the guidance of head coach Dan Fisher, who was hired in 2013, Pitt has advanced to the NCAA tournament eight years in a row. It has won five ACC regular-season championships since 2017. And, to repeat, it has earned a spot in the Final Four for the third-straight season.

Volleyball might be a niche sport, and women’s volleyball might be a niche of a niche sport (although, it does seem more high profile than men’s volleyball), but the Panthers’ women’s team is the best thing currently going on in Pittsburgh sports.

The Steelers are 7-6 and barely clinging to their playoff hopes after consecutive losses at home to the Cardinals and Patriots, two teams that were 2-10 at kickoff. Pittsburgh hasn’t won a playoff game since the 2016 season and has the look of a franchise that is eager to extend that streak one more year. The Penguins missed the playoffs last season for the first time since 2006 and, at 11-12-3, are currently out of the postseason picture. As for the Pirates? They’re the Pirates.

After winning a combined 20 games, an ACC championship and the Sun Bowl over the previous two seasons, Pitt’s football program compiled a disastrous 3-9 record in 2023. The men’s basketball team is trying to get back to the NCAA tournament for the second year in a row, but it’s never once been able to do what the women’s volleyball team has now accomplished thrice, and that’s make it to the Final Four.

These are the best of times for the Pitt women’s volleyball program, and you might not think the city cares all that much, but 8,800 fans showed up to the Petersen Events Center to watch the Panthers outlast Louisville, 3-2, in a huge ACC matchup late in the regular season.

Now, Pitt will travel to Tampa to take on Nebraska, the number-one overall seed, on Thursday at 7 p.m. Speaking of the Cornhuskers, they set a world record for a women’s sporting event when over 92,000 fans showed up to Memorial Stadium to watch them take on Omaha on August 30.

The Pitt/Nebraska game will be a rematch of the 2021 national semifinals where the Huskers prevailed. Nebraska is going for its sixth national title, while the Panthers are looking to make their first appearance in the finals in program history.