Eleven thousand and eight hundred. That was the attendance number of a record-breaking and sold-out Petersen Events Center.

With the crowd against it, Penn State women’s volleyball knew it had a challenging task ahead of them as the No. 3 Nittany Lions tried to upset No. 1 Pitt. Not only did they have to overcome a challenging environment, but they also had to do something no other team has been able to do against Pitt this season: win a set.

However, this was too much for the Nittany Lions to overcome as they struggled to match the intensity of a highly talented Pitt team. It was evident that Pitt embraced its atmosphere from the beginning of the match by taking a 6-1 lead in the first set. From there, the Panthers never looked back as they dominated Penn State throughout the entire match.

“I got chills hearing the crowd cheer for us and just looking around and seeing all the seats basically filled,” Pitt’s Emmy Klika said after the match. “We were trying to create energy for ourselves and on the court, so feeding off of the crowd, but also just creating our own energy on the court.”

Home-field advantage has played a huge factor in the success of both teams as neither of them has lost a set on their respective campuses. Penn State’s Taylor Trammell said the home-field advantage for Pitt played a huge factor in determining the outcome of the match.

“I think that if it was in our house, I think that this game would have had a different result,” Trammell said. “But at the end of the day being here in this environment, it’s great [and] shows that [Pennsylvania volleyball] is the powerhouse right now.”

With this matchup being one of the most anticipated volleyball matches this season, both teams appreciated the platform that was given to them with the huge turnout at the Petersen Events Center. Pitt moved this matchup to the Petersen Events Center instead of its regular venue, Fitzgerald Field House, to accommodate all the fans who attended. This came to reality as Pitt broke its record for fan attendance at a volleyball game.

“We’re so lucky to be on this platform right now, it was an unbelievable atmosphere, and I hope this continues,” Penn State head coach Katie Schumacher-Cawley said. “The more times we are on TV and just to continue to grow the game. I know these guys don’t take it for granted.”

Pitt head coach Dan Fisher echoed that sentiment as he appreciated the Pitt crowd and the energy it brought.

“It certainly has been changing the last few years and it’s been growing everywhere,” Fisher said. “It’s one more drop in the bucket for what’s happening with our sport. We continue every year to set new attendance [records] at multiple venues, and we’re certainly proud that Pittsburgh is a part of that.”

After this loss, the Nittany Lions enter uncharted territory for the first time this season: rebounding from defeat. With two matches coming for Penn State this weekend with the Penn State Classic, the Nittany Lions know they have to recover from this loss as fast as possible to get their season back on track.

“For the first time this season, it felt that we lost our heads a little bit. In our first couple of matches, we felt like we were [going to] figure it out, we’ll find our groove, and for the first time, we felt like we didn’t really have that control,” Schumacher-Cawley said. “At the end of the day, we lost control of our own heads, which is something you can definitely control, and we can control moving forward.”

Penn State will try to bounce back from its loss against Pitt when it takes on James Madison at 6 p.m. on Friday, September 20, in the Penn State Classic at Rec Hall.