11-30-15

The Pitt News T h e in de p e n d e n t st ude nt ne w spap e r of t he University of Pittsburgh

A new battlefield: profile of student veteran Page 2

November 30, 2015 | Issue 71 | Volume 106

Tale of two halves Quadree Henderson hits the dirt returning the ball against Miami Friday. Wenhao Wu STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER

Jeremy Tepper

Senior Staff Writer If Pat Narduzzi watched his Pitt football team on television, the offensive display might tempt him to fast-forward to the second half of most of his team’s games.

After slow starts, Narduzzi said the second half is where the team’s offense — and

its resilience — emerge. But for the seniors departing Heinz Field Friday, that gusto emerged too late.

In its final regular season game, Narduzzi’s team again faced an early deficit, with Miami outscoring them by 23-3 in the first half. Despite a late comeback, Pitt lost 29-24 at Heinz Field Friday to end its regu-

lar season at 8-4. The coach chose to look at the positives from the game, particularly in the late comeback attempt.

“One of the reasons I love this football team is they have no quit in them. They will never quit,” Narduzzi said. “They continue to fight and fight and fight and always feel like they have a chance at the end of the

game to win it.”

In Pitt’s four losses, opponents outscored the Panthers 81-16 in the first half.

Pitt’s first-half troubles have left its head coach searching for remedies, some outside of his usual box of tricks.

“We started slow again. We’ve got to See Football on page 8

News Veteran serves and studies in Pittsburgh Elli Warsh Staff Writer

James Matthew Landis, a Pitt student and veteran with a disability, has always had a hefty sense of responsibility and isn’t ready to relax his helping hands.

He left college to join the Army as a 19-yearold in the early ’90s to pay off his mother’s medical bills after she died from cancer. As an Apache helicopter pilot, he was responsible for other people’s lives and for a larger mission that far surpassed any experience he’d had in school.

Then, after 18 years of service, the Maryland native suffered a head injury in 2009 that forced him out of the air.

Honorably discharged and on the ground, he thought employers would need someone with his experience — his ability to act under pressure and overcome almost any situation.

But with the economy in recession, Landis stayed jobless.

“[Veterans] assume they when we get out, there are going to be things that we can do, everyone is going to be dying to get ahold of a veteran because we have so much leadership experience,” Landis said. “And then you get out ... I mean nobody was hiring anyone [in 2009], and so there was kind of this isolation.”

So Landis became a non-traditional student — more than 30 years old with a wife and three children. Landis, 36, is now nearing his third finals week as one of more than 500 student veterans at Pitt. He’s found news ways — and new neighborhoods — to put his leadership skills to use, befriending other veterans along the way.

In 2010, Landis enrolled in the Ringling College of Art and Design in Florida. He said practicing art was “therapeutic,” but he wanted to do something that would help people like his son, who has a communication disorder, autism spectrum disorder, and is nonverbal.

“I thought, you know, I’m very interested

in computers and electronics, I’ll see if I can get into something rehabilitation engineering-wise that would lead to working for people like that,” Landis said.

When Landis searched rehabilitation engineering in 2011, the first name on the list was Rory Cooper, an engineer and veteran who heads the Human Engineering Research Laboratory in Bakery Square in Pittsburgh’s East End. Cooper founded HER Labs in 1994, where he designs state-of-the-art wheelchair technologies, including the Personal Mobility and Manipulation Appliance — a wheelchair that Popular Science featured in its August 2010 edition.

Cooper said as a veteran, he benefited from the “struggles and triumphs” of older generations. He wanted to work with Landis, who he said he considers a great person, as part of fulfilling an obligation to those who followed in his footsteps.

“I feel that as long as I have the means, it is my obligation to carry on for this and future generations of veterans,” Cooper said. “It is my small way in still serving and paying the support that I received forward.”

Cooper invited Landis to join ELeVATE, a part of HER Labs, that’s meant to draw veterans into the fields of science, technology, engineering and mathematics and the world of research.

“So I emailed him back and said, ‘Even better, why don’t I transfer to the University of Pittsburgh and study under you?’” Landis said, laughing. “I came up here and visited with him, and I was sold immediately.”

After he moved to Pittsburgh in 2012, Landis said he realized he was missing what he calls an “anchor of responsibility.”

“When you’re in the Army, you’re responsible for other people’s lives, you’re responsible for your equipment and you’ve got all this responSee Student veteran on page 3

Students climb up “FoodChain” with new app

Lauren Wilson Staff Writer

When Pitt senior Justin Ruoff went out to eat with his then-girlfriend in the summer of 2014, they had very different meal experiences.

Ruoff ordered a burger and said it was delicious. He said his companion’s salad, however, was awful — the lettuce was brown and inedible.

The couple didn’t want to make a fuss and send the food back, but they also didn’t want to take the time for a lengthy review online. Instead, Ruoff, a computer science major, came up with a feedback concept that would lead to a new social media platform.

“I thought it sucks I couldn’t really share [the experience] and say ‘My burger was awesome,’ and she could say that her food was terrible,” he said. “It started from that concept:

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having good food on the ‘Wall of Fame’ and bad food on the ‘Wall of Shame.’”

After Ruoff pitched the idea for a food rating app at Pitt’s “Students for Startups” Innovation event in October 2014, the concept captured the attention of two other senior computer science majors at the event, Adam Rison and Chris Meier.

The three, along with Michael Sebastiani, a Robert Morris University graduate, met the next month to discuss Ruoff ’s idea for an app called FoodChain.

“We started making graphics within the first hour we started talking about it,” Sebastiani said. The co-founders, who are self-funding the app, spent the rest of the month on development and created a software plan.

A year later, on Oct. 10, 2015, FoodChain, a social media platform that allows users to

upload pictures of their food and vote on the experience, launched its beta test for Android and iOS. Currently, 55 people use the free app to rate and review food. Ruoff, who is a part of Pitt’s blast furnace, a startup and entrepreneur program run through the Innovation Institute, presented the app earlier this semester to a group of students and asked them to become the beta testers. Ruoff and the other founders also post on a Facebook page they made for the app asking for more testers.

On the app’s home screen is a “My Feed” tab that allows users to see which restaurants their friends have posted about or reviewed.

Aside from friends, or other people a user can follow, is a “Near Me” tab and a “Top Plates” tab that let users see the most favorable reviews of restaurants within a 30-mile radius of them.

To use the app, users simply take a photo of

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what they are eating, write a caption and post it. Users can also vote on other posts that appear in their feeds.

On the app, users post their dining experiences on either the “Wall of Shame” or the “Wall of Fame.” They can also vote on whether or not they would try other users’ meals and post comments.

Some Oakland restaurants, including Mad Mex on Atwood Street, have already made it onto the app’s “Wall of Fame.”

Pat Kelly, a manager at Mad Mex, said the restaurant wasn’t familiar with FoodChain, but was happy to be on the “Wall of Fame” and was open to any criticism from food rating apps. “[Reviews] aren’t alien to us,” Kelly said.

“Your business is always open to criticism, and we’re always open to feedback.”

See FoodChain on page 3

2

“Matthew Landis is one of the greatest people I know here at Pitt,” Shaner said. “The veteran community became my very first circle of friends sibility that gets you up every day and moving [at the University].” toward the mission of success that you’re always Landis said the veteran services at Pitt mostly trying to push for,” Landis said. act as a “conduit” for social activities that connect He lost that specific sense of purpose when veterans. But he’s found acceptance amongst trahe left the military and focused largely on more ditional students as well. personal tasks like paying the bills. That’s when he “Most of the uncomfortable situations I’ve found The Mission Continues, a program where faced as a student veteran aren’t particular to veterans perform community service like buildPitt, but are fairly common to veterans returning ing playgrounds and rehabilitating houses. to school after service,” Landis said. “I’ve felt like Landis is a platoon leader — or group leader the traditional students have been exceptional — at the program. One of his platoon’s biggest in making me feel comfortable and included in projects currently is rebuilding Stargell Field, the courses.” only youth baseball field in Homewood.

Although he has a good relationship with Before he became a part of The Mission Conmost students, Landis tinues, Landis said said it’s sometimes diffihe originally concult to be in a classroom sidered joining orwith them while taking ganizations like the a test.

Wounded Warrior “Every time I hear Project, a national pencils scratching, erasprogram for helping ers rubbing, someone soldiers adjust after nervously tapping their they return from foot, it’s like a reset butthe war, but said he ton in my brain,” Landis didn’t feel like the said. Because his injury one who needed asmakes him unable to sistance. filter ambient sound, “I didn’t feel like he takes tests in Pitt’s I deserved that kind Testing Center, where of attention. I wasn’t he said he wears “obso badly disabled. I noxiously large, goofyfelt like I was still calooking headphones.” pable of doing whatLandis warns ever I wanted to do,” people to stay clear of J. Matthew Landis enjoying a Pirates Landis said. game at PNC Park. the “wounded warrior Traci Shaner is Photo courtesy of J. Matthew Landis depiction of veterans.” also a student vetHe works hard to overeran who served in the National Guard until come his disability and doesn’t expect any favors.

October 2014 and met Landis when she was an “[We] don’t want pity, help from the school, undergraduate at Pitt. She said she’s carried her help from society ... we just want a fair shot, and experience in the National Guard into her eduwe’re willing to work our asses off to earn it,” Lancation. dis said.

“I know what it’s like to wake up in the mornHe doesn’t want people to shake his hand ing, and your day is already laid out for you by and thank him for his service because his job isn’t your superiors. In uniform, my mission was to done. obey and lead,” Shaner said. “These experiences “We want to hear, ‘We still need you.’ It taught me to be humble and respectful to my sounds simple, but think about it,” Landis said. leaders, but also to be an example for my subor“‘Thank you for your service’ is something you dinates.” say to a retiree. I’ve still got something to offer, Shaner, who is now getting her masters in sowork to do. Thank me in 30 years, when my body cial work at Pitt, met Landis while working at the of work is done.”

University’s Office of Veterans Services.

Student veteran, pg. 2

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FoodChain, pg. 2 Unlike other restaurant review sites like Yelp, Ruoff said FoodChain revolves around pictures, votes and continued interaction. Also unlike other sites, FoodChain reviews have a 100-character limit.

“We went on Yelp once and spent five minutes writing a review. I know it doesn’t seem like that much time, but we’re a right here, right now generation,” Ruoff said. “People don’t want to spend five minutes writing a review.”

The app will automatically identify all restaurants within a 30-mile radius of the user, but restaurants who officially sign up can get free advertising in the form of a promoted post once per week.

The restaurants that sign up, according to Ruoff, can also use data that FoodChain collects to improve their service.

“Say a restaurant is doing well and getting up-votes all the time, then every Tuesday at five o’clock they get negative reviews. We can then take that information and say ‘Hey, every Tuesday at five, something is happening with your restaurant,’” Ruoff said. “‘You should check your

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staff. Did you have a shift change? Did you have a new cook come in?’”

Ruoff is already communicating with local restaurant owners, such as DiSalvo’s in Latrobe, Pennsylvania, but has not started offering promoted posts.

“The bottom line is that it is so early in the restaurant promotion process that right now our dealings with them are focused on developing relationships with these businesses and less on marketing the app,” Ruoff said.

There are 55 users beta testing the app, and Ruoff said they’re using it frequently.

“Right now, of those first 55 [users] that are on FoodChain, all of them have been active on a monthly basis and between 80 and 85 percent have been active on a daily basis,” Ruoff said.

One of those beta testers, Benjamin Pollock, a sophomore mechanical engineer at Pitt, uses the app when he’s hungry, which is often he said.

Similar to scrolling through an Instagram account dedicated to food, Pollock said he enjoys looking at other people’s meals and finding new places to eat and new dishes to try, even though he’s on a college student diet.

See FoodChain on page 5

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Cyber Monday

You might think Black Friday is the most popular shopping day of the year, but, dollar for dollar, Cyber Monday takes home the gold. This year, even Pitt Athletics will offer 15 to 30 percent off online orders for the most prolific — and introverted — shopping extravaganza of the year.

But before we all turn into shopaholics this holiday season, The Pitt News took a step back to see just how much Americans have spent over the last six years.

Cyber Monday retail sales by year:

Nov. 1 - Dec. 31 total retail sales by year

Black Friday retail sales by year:

2009 = $887 2010 = $1,028 2011 = $1,251 2012 = $1,465 2013 = $1,735 2014 = $2,038

2009 = $29,084 2010 = $32,589 2011 = $37,170 2012 = $42,286 2013 = $46,545 2014 = $53,305

2009 = $595 2010 = $648 2011 = $826 2012 = $1,042 2013 = $1,199 2014 = $1,505 *Data from comScore (in millions of dollars USD)

The Pitt News SuDoku 11/30/15 courtesy of dailysudoku.com

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November 30, 2015

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FoodChain, pg. 3 Since Pollock just signed up in mid-November, he’s mostly reviewed restaurants over Thanksgiving break in his hometown near Philadelphia, though he’s also posted his mom’s cooking. While he likes the app, Pollock said the biggest challenge of using the app is remembering to use it.

“My only problem with the app is that when I go on and see all the delicious food I get hungry, so I go out to eat, but then forget to document my meal while it still looks good because I dig in immediately,” Pollock said.

According to Sebastiani, users can review any food on the app. Sebastiani said he made the app’s first “Wall of Shame” post about a homemade turkey sandwich as a joke.

The co-founders said that about threefourths of the posts on FoodChain are positive, and the negative ones, like Sebastiani’s, are funny.

Gregory Coticchia, director of Pitt’s Innovation Institute, said FoodChain is part of an industry that’s shifted since 2007, when apps became a booming market.

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”We’ve seen the first generation of [apps] go by, where people think they’re going to get rich on a 99 cent app,” Coticchia said. “That’s kind of gone by the wayside.” “[Now] people are not just downloading [apps] and trying them out, but are actually engaged with them.”

FoodChain joins several other innovative technological developments finding a home in Pittsburgh.

One of the most successful former startups, Uber, has an Advanced Technology Center in Pittsburgh and brought in students from Carnegie Mellon University and Pitt to join the development process.

“I think we are at one of the high points in terms of tech industry startups and entrepreneurship [in Pittsburgh],” Coticchia said. “We have more organizations that support that activity. We have more people interested in the activity.”

Because of this market, Pittsburgh’s Downtown Partnership proposed calling the city the “Silicon Strip,” but Coticchia said that idea wouldn’t be useful.

“What you want to do is differentiate [from other cities],” he said. “There’s only one Silicon

From left, Justin Ruoff, Chris Meier, Adam Rison and Michael Sebastiani present a demo of their new app at Pitt. Photo courtesy of Justin Ruoff Valley, and it’s great on its own. When we say ‘Silicon Strip,’ it has a ‘me too’ sound. It says that we want to be like them, as opposed to other things we built ourselves.”

Coticchia said the success of a tech startup begins with a creative team.

“People want to know who is the team that’s bringing [the idea] because people tend to bet on the jockey, not just the horse,” he said.

The FoodChain team, currently operating out of Ruoff ’s house in Greensburg, is reminis-

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cent of other ambitious college entrepreneurs, such as Snapchat’s creators from Stanford University or Mark Zuckerberg, the creator of Facebook.

Ruoff thinks the idea will take off because it’s focused on the most important part of going out to eat.

“Individual meals — that’s what really matters,” he said. “People can say they’re going to a restaurant for atmosphere all they want. You really go for the food.”

5

Opinions

column

from the editorial board

Pittsburgh must denounce anti-Muslim sentiment If Pittsburgh does not adequately respond to this weekend’s attack on a Muslim man, we will have unravelled our efforts toward immigration reform and increasing the city’s diversity.

On Thanksgiving, a passenger shot an unidentified Muslim taxi driver when he dropped the man off at his home in Hazelwood. Prior to the shooting, the passenger asked the driver a number of questions about ISIS and whether or not he was a “Pakistani guy.”

The passenger told the driver he was going inside for his wallet, but he emerged with a gun.

A bullet hit the driver, a Moroccan immigrant, as he fled the firing man.

The driver and leaders of the Islamic Center of Pittsburgh are calling the shooting a hate crime, though police have not confirmed those reports.

If police investigations prove that the shooting was the result of anti-Muslim sentiment — and a hate crime — then it wouldn’t be the first time that anti-Muslim sentiment stifled Pittsburgh’s goals of becoming a welcoming hub for immigrants. But we cannot be the most livable city if immigrants cannot thrive here and feel safe while doing so.

In an interview with the Pitts-

burgh Post-Gazette, Wasi Mohamed, executive director of the Islamic Center of Pittsburgh, said the center had received telephone threats following the Paris attacks and filed a police report for one in the past.

These attacks directly oppose Mayor Bill Peduto’s recent Welcoming Pittsburgh initiative, which aims to bring 20,000 immigrants into

This shot must continue to ring in our ears and remain in public dialogue.

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the city in the next decade. Peduto has said immigration brings much needed revenue and diversity into Pittsburgh.

Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Wolf has also held fast in accepting Syrian refugees following the Paris attacks.

But their efforts are null if antiMuslim sentiment keeps immigrants from approaching Pittsburgh soil.

If Pittsburgh wants the world to

see it as a city with arms open to immigration and refugee resettlement — and benefit from immigration’s economic possibilities — then it needs to formally address issues of anti-Muslim sentiment.

Pittsburgh currently lacks an established immigrant community. In a 2015 ranking from WalletHub, a research firm in Washington, D.C., Pittsburgh was at the bottom of over 200 cities when it came to diversity.

According to the U.S. Census Bureau, only 7.4 percent of Pittsburgh’s population from 2009-2013 was foreign born.

If the city does not renounce this man’s action — possibly through a city resolution or even a Student Government Board resolution — we stifle any hopes of further diversity.

This shot must continue to ring in our ears and remain in public dialogue.

While families gave thanks for the roofs over their heads and food on their tables, a man was possibly experiencing the direct and brutal result of racially charged violence as he tried to do his job.

It is not enough to announce efforts to welcome immigrants and refugees into Pittsburgh if the city does not match these efforts with a dialogue that speaks out against possible hate crimes.

November 30, 2015

Don’t hide away in fear post-paris attacks Courtney Linder Senior Columnist

“The Hot Tea” is a weekly column dedicated to unearthing the intricacies of London’s social, political and millennial issues in the context of Pittsburgh’s own complex culture.

LONDON - On Sept. 11, 2001, I was barely cognizant of the world around me beyond Polly Pockets or Crayola. I won’t pretend that I remember how I felt when the planes crashed into the World Trade Center.

The images in my mind are ruddy, black and white, blurred by the buzz of feedback over the last 14 years.

Yet again, I’ve found myself relatively close to the lines of Western terror — my flat in London is roughly two hours away from Paris by train. I was sitting in a dingy fast-food restaurant when I found out about the Bataclan theater attacks. The mass hysteria from everyone around me and my family at home was immediate, while I sat there nibbling on greasy strips of fried chicken.

I knew I’d be more likely to die from my oily choice in dinner before I died in a terrorist attack. But people around me in London live in fear of dying in an act of post-Paris terrorism. This inward selfishSee Linder on page 7

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Linder, pg. 6 ness disregards those who die from acts of terrorism, every day, in unpublicized tragedies that — admittedly — Westerners overlook and mislabel.

On a more shallow level, it’s simply irrational to fear dying from an act of terrorism, even while traveling.

According to a 2010 Global Research study, Americans are more likely to die in everyday mundane catastrophes, like car accidents, than in acts of terrorism. The study reports more Americans died from road crashes than from homicides in all of the 160 countries surveyed, with the exception of the Philippines.

And what do Americans die from most often at home? Heart disease. Turns out I should hang up the fried chicken before I cancel my return flight to Pittsburgh.

That’s why I want to know why one of the guys I study with here posted on Facebook that he doesn’t feel safe living in London anymore. Or why my British boyfriend’s mom believes I need to avoid the Tube at all costs. Or why my flatmate’s friend cancelled plans to visit her in London out of fear that jihadists would take over her plane.

Yes, London is a huge metropolitan area. Yes, people have attacked it in the past — take heed of the 7/7/05 Tube bombings. Yes, Heathrow is one of the busiest airports in the world, with 73.4 million passengers coming through its gates last year, according to the BBC. But at the same time, England has one of the tightest border controls in the world. Adventurous Kate, a female travel blogger, notes on her website, “the U.K. border is notoriously difficult — it’s the strictest border I’ve ever experienced ... roughly one in three of my border crossings results in an intense interrogation.”

I have to agree — when I traveled back and forth between England, France and the Netherlands, border control officials thoroughly questioned me. The number of times I entered and re-entered England without possessing a U.K. visa caught their attention — not to mention the four-month duration of my stay. And

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to be frank — I’m a 5-foot-4-inch white girl who stereotypically poses no threat to the U.K. border, but I’m much more likely to get interrogated than attacked during air transit.

More importantly, though, terrorism didn’t just flare up in 2011 and then disappear for 14 years, only to re-emerge with the Parisian attacks. Terrorists strike

Boko Haram is actually the deadliest terrorist group in the world, not ISIS? According to RT, Boko Haram were responsible for 6,644 deaths in 2014, compared to 6,073 attributed to ISIS — representing a quadrupling of Boko Haram’s total killings in 2013. Most of the attacks are quarantined to areas of Nigeria, Cameroon, Chad or Niger.

TNS nearly every day, though it’s in areas beyond the reach of Western empathy.

Maybe we’re too busy focusing on “first world problems” like why Starbucks came out with a red Christmas cup this year. Or maybe we’re too tuned in to clowns like Donald Trump to notice.

Consider how ubiquitous ISIS has become in the past two years. How many people realize that the extremist group

There is nothing shocking about terrorism in this world, not even in the United States. It happens right under our noses, nearly every day. According to Shooting Tracker, there have been 351 mass shootings in the United States so far in 2015. We mislabel many of these tragedies as “mass shootings” rather than acts of terrorism. I believe this is largely due to the fact that they are domestic acts

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that mainly white people commit.

Merriam-Webster defines terrorism as “the unofficial or unauthorized use of violence and intimidation in the pursuit of political aims.” Over the weekend, Robert L. Dear shot and killed three people at a Planned Parenthood clinic in Colorado.

A law enforcement official heard him remark, “No more baby parts.” If pro-life beliefs did, in fact, motivate Dear’s actions, isn’t this act of unauthorized violence — used to intimidate pro-choice civilians — the epitome of terrorism?

So why are we so afraid of dying from act of terrorism on a plane, but not when we’re at home? What’s the difference, really?

If we’re supposed to avoid all points of possible terrorist attacks, then I’m stocking up on canned goods and water because it means I’m living in my basement for the foreseeable future.

By this skittish rhetoric, not only should I avoid airplanes, airports, concert venues and skyscrapers, but I also shouldn’t go to school or the movie theater.

I think it’s time we re-evaluate this culture of fear, post-Paris. Don’t cancel your travel plans. Don’t avoid public transportation. Not only is this naive, but it’s selfish and undermines the terrorist tragedies damaging the world while our eyes have been selfishly fixated inward.

Living in fear doesn’t keep you safe from terrorism — so don’t avoid the airport, but maybe avoid the fried chicken.

Courtney Linder is a senior columnist at The Pitt News, primarily focusing on social issues and technology. Write to her at CNL13@pitt.edu.

WANT MORE CONTENT? GO ONLINE TO

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Sports

Football, pg. 1

find a way to jumpstart. I might have to bring my jumper cables out or something,” Narduzzi said.

Miami set the tone for the game early.

Receiving the ball first, the Hurricanes drove 75 yards down the field with ease in 6:12. Miami mostly leaned on running back Joseph Yearby, and it finished off with a one-yard quarterback sneak by Brad Kaaya.

Hoping to answer Miami’s touchdown, quarterback Nathan Peterman looked for tight end J.P. Holtz downfield on the second play of the drive. Peterman made his intentions clear and Miami corner Artie Burns noticed, jumping ahead of Holtz and collecting an interception.

Peterman took responsibility for the play that helped dig his team’s early hole even deeper.

“It was a costly mistake for us, kind of set the game off the wrong way, and we just couldn’t find it again until too late,” Peterman said. “It’s just hard because we all wanted nine wins.”

Miami took advantage of the mistake

They made the plays in the first half, and we didn’t.

Wenhao Wu STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER

-Pat Narduzzi with a field goal, following that with another touchdown and field goal before Pitt eventually put points on the board.

The slow start comes from a few factors. Miami’s talent may have outclassed

Pitt, as Miami consistently brings in top recruiting classes despite recent subpar records.

Miami executed better than Pitt, and Narduzzi said his team didn’t have enough energy from the start to make winning plays.

“They made the plays in the first half, and we didn’t,” Narduzzi said.

Coming into the game, the Panthers still had reasons, athletic and emotional, to want to win. It was senior day, and those graduating wanted to leave Heinz Field on a high note, which likely also put more pressure on those not yet departing.

In the past, Narduzzi has watched similar circumstances brew disappointing results.

“Sometimes on senior day, I’ve seen guys not play as well, period,” Narduzzi said. “There’s a lot of emotions out there in a game like that.”

See Football on page 10

Pitt fails to grab ncaa tournament bid David Leftwich Staff Writer

Closing out its season with two home wins may not have guaranteed a berth to the NCAA Tournament, but after splitting two matches last week, Pitt’s volleyball team will never know whether it would have made the difference.

The Panthers (23-9, 13-7 ACC) failed to make the NCAA Tournament in Sunday night’s selection show, as its impressive 13-2 home record could not make up for key late-season losses in the Fitzgerald Field House, including one Wednesday night. A tournament appearance would have been the Panthers’ first since 2004, when they were

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still a part of the Big East Conference.

Pitt closed out its regular season this week with two home matches against the Virginia Tech Hokies and Virginia Cavaliers on Wednesday and Friday, respectively. In the two matches at the Fitzgerald Field House, Pitt lost to Virginia Tech 3-2 before completing its regular season with a 3-0 sweep against Virginia.

To start the first match, Pitt won the first set with a strong offensive output, hitting 18 kills while maintaining a .341 hitting percentage. Virginia could not keep up, only hitting .225 to lose the set 25-21.

Sloppiness plagued the second set — both teams hit below .200 and stayed

close to each other throughout the entire set. The difference was the Hokies’ ability to capitalize at the end of the set when it mattered most.

The Hokies were down 22-20, but proceeded to win five of the next six points to win the set 25-23. Pitt senior middle hitter Amanda Orchard said defensive breakdowns late in the set blocked the team.

“Defensively, I think we struggled,” Orchard said. “We were up and down.”

Rebounding from this tough second set loss, the Panthers jumped out to a 13-7 lead in the third set and inflated that margin to as many as eight points, eventually earning a 25-18 set win.

But all of the momentum from the

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third set immediately halted for the Panthers as they played one of their worst stretches of the season. They had only seven kills while hitting 15 errors.

Because of Pitt’s misfires, Virginia Tech dominated the fourth set, taking a 13-9 lead to open up and taking 12 of the next 15 points to win 25-12. Pitt lost the last five points of the set on errors.

With both teams split at 2-2, the outcome came down to a shortened but competitive fifth set.

At 14-12 in the match, Pitt was in total control with a match point. But they folded and lost three of the next four points on errors to lose the set 16-14 and the match 3-2.

See Volleyball on page 9

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The Pitt News Editor-in-Chief DANIELLE FOX

Managing Editor HARRISON KAMINSKY

editor@pittnews.com

manager@pittnews.com

News Editor DALE SHOEMAKER

Opinions Editor BETHEL HABTE

newsdesk.tpn@gmail.com

tpnopinions@pittnews.com

Sports Editor DAN SOSTEK

Culture Editor JACK TRAINOR

tpnsports@gmail.com

aeeditors@gmail.com

Visual Editor NIKKI MORIELLO

Layout Editor EMILY HOWER

pittnewsphoto@gmail.com

tpnlayout@gmail.com

Online Editor STEVEN ROOMBERG

Copy Chief MICHELLE REAGLE

tpnonline@gmail.com

tpncopydesk@gmail.com

Elizabeth Lepro | Assistant News Editor Lauren Rosenblatt | Assistant News Editor Nick Voutsinos | Assistant Opinions Editor Chris Puzia | Assistant Sports Editor Jeff Ahearn | Assistant Visual Editor Danah Bialoruski | Assistant Layout Editor Sydney Harper | Multimedia Editor Amy Beaudine | Social Media Editor

Katie Krater | Assistant Copy Chief

Mariah Bell and the Pitt volleyball team finished 23-9 this season.

Dagmar Seppala STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER

Copy Staff Bridget Montgomery Anjuli Das Sierra Smith Sydney Mengel Sarah Choflet Kelsey Hunter

Matthew Maelli Kyleen Pickaring Casey Talay Corey Forman Alex Stryker Maria Castello

Volleyball, pg. 8

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“We made a few errors at the end, but I think it could have gone either way,” head coach Dan Fisher said.

After the grueling five-set match, Pitt ensured its next match two days later did not go the same way, as Pitt dispatched Virginia in straight sets, 3-0.

Sophomore outside hitter Mariah Bell said the team leaned on each other to refocus mentally on the next match.

“It takes teammates to pick you up from a loss like that, so it was definitely the teammates and coaches that gave us all of their courage,” Bell said.

The first set of the match was the closest. Pitt came out to an early deficit but closed it by winning six of the next nine points , tying the Cavaliers at eight apiece.

From there, the Panthers built a lead and

November 30, 2015

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never let it go, eventually taking the set 25-21.

Pitt completely shut down Virginia’s offense, holding the Cavaliers to eight kills, while thriving offensively themselves with 17 kills. This disparity didn’t reflect on the scoreboard until Pitt broke an 11-11 tie in the match. The Panthers shook the Cavaliers and took the set 2517.

In the final set of the match, the Panthers continued their Mariah Bell after Outside hitter domination breaking an early 8-8 tie. Pitt’s efficient offense soon imposed its will and slowly pulled away. On the back of a .385 hitting percentage and only three errors, Pitt won the third set 25-15 and the match 3-0.

This win was a necessity to try and keep Pitt’s NCAA Tournament hopes alive. Despite the latest convincing victo-

It takes teammates to pick you up from a loss like this.

See Volleyball on page 10

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Football, pg. 8

ry, losses in two of their last four matches ultimately doomed the team’s tournament chances.

Despite the tournament news, Orchard said she is happy with how her team competed until the end of the season.

“These past four years have been great, but I couldn’t be more proud of this team.

Especially this year,” Orchard said.

Wide receiver Tyler Boyd didn’t speculate on what has led to his team’s poor starts. What is clear to Boyd, though, is that poor execution certainly didn’t help.

“I can’t really pinpoint or point a finger on anybody,” Boyd said. “A lot of guys, including me, we just weren’t out there doing our job, we weren’t executing our plays.”

Eventually, Pitt showed some life.

On Pitt’s second drive of the second half, running back Darrin Hall broke a tackle and raced 35 yards to the end zone.

Hall was one of the few bright spots for Pitt on Friday, rushing 12 times for 103 yards. But a failed two-point conversion and onside kick late sealed the loss.

Linebacker Mike Caprara said the late burst naturally wasn’t the game plan.

“It was one of those, ‘C’mon, c’mon, c’mon,’ and the spark didn’t really come,” Caprara said. “Not the outcome we expected.”

Pitt will have about a month to correct its problems, when it plays in a to-be-determined bowl game. For the time being, Narduzzi said he won’t be satisfied until he leads his team to an undefeated season.

“Not where we want to be. We’ve got to win some of those big games,” Narduzzi said. “There’s 12 games, you’d like win 12.

You’re never going to be happy until you get every one of them.”

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Nikki Moriello VISUAL EDITOR

The Pitt news crossword 11/30/15

Volleyball, pg. 9

November 30, 2015

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I Rentals & Sublet N D E X -NORTH OAKLAND -SOUTH OAKLAND -SHADYSIDE -SQUIRREL HILL -SOUTHSIDE -NORTHSIDE -BLOOMFIELD -ROOMMATES -OTHER

3 & 4 bedroom apartments. Available immediately. Newly remodeled. Air conditioning. Bigelow Blvd., N. Neville St. Call 412-287-5712 3 & 5 bedroom. May 2016. Sarah St. Large bedroom, new kitchen, air conditioning, washer & dryer, dishwasher, large deck. 412-287-5712. **AUGUST 2016: Furnished Studio, 1-2-3-4 Bedroom Apts. No pets.

Non-smokers preferred.

412-621-0457

1-2-3-4-5 Bedroom Houses & Apartments. 376 Meyran, 343 McKee, & Atwood, St. James, Bates St. $1,095-$2,000. Call 412-969-2790 1,2,3,5,6,7, & 8 bedroom houses. August & May 2016.

Bouquet, Atwood, Meyran, Ward. Call 412-287-5712.

2 & 3 bedroom houses, Lawn & Ophelia. Available Now. Please call 412-287-5712.

2 nice 3-bedroom houses. Good location. Rent $400/room. Available August 1st, 2016. 412-881-0550 or 724-757-3367.

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Employment

-CHILDCARE -FOOD SERVICES -UNIVERSITY -INTERNSHIPS -RESEARCH STUDIES -VOLUNTEERING -OTHER

Classifieds

For Sale

-AUTO -BIKES -BOOKS -MERCHANDISE -FURNITURE -REAL ESTATE -TICKETS

2-3-4-5-6-7 bedroom apartments and houses available in May and August 2016. Nice, clean, free laundry, includes exterior maintenance, new appliances, spacious, located on Meyran, Semple, Wellsford, Dawson, Juliet. 412-414-9629.

2,5,6 bedroom houses in South Oakland. Available for rent August 2016.

Very clean with different amenities (dishwasher, laundry, AC, washer and dryer, 1-3 baths, newer appliances & sofas). Contact Ken at 412-287-4438.

3444 WARD ST. Studio, 1-2-3 BR apartments available Aug. 1, 2016. Free parking, free heating.

320 S. BOUQUET 2BR, great location, move in May 1, 2016.

416 OAKLAND AVE. - 2BR, hardwood floors. Move in May 1 or Aug. 1, 2016. Call 412-361-2695. No evening calls please.

3727 Dawson: 2 BR basement apartment, 1 kitchen, 1 bath and living room. $550/student. Available January 1st.

Includes utilities.

Call 412-595-7682 or email: daquilantes@yahoo.com

Services

-EDUCATIONAL -TRAVEL -HEALTH -PARKING -INSURANCE

4 BR townhouse, Semple St., available May 1st & August 1st, 2016. Equipped kitchen, full basement. 412-343-4289.

Call after 5:00 pm.

6, 7, or 8-bedroom house. Washer & dryer available. NO PETS. Available August 1, 2016. One year lease. Meyran Ave. 5 minute walk to University of Pittsburgh. 412-983-5222.

Accepting applications for newly constructed large home in S. Oakland. Available August 2016.

Excellent location to university, 2 blocks off Forbes. For further information call: 412-720-5023

Clean, Newly Remodeled Houses and Apartments.

1-9 Bedrooms. Call 412-680-4244 or email s.cusick@comcast.net www.superiorpropertiesgroup.com.

House for RentJuliet Street.

Available January 2016.

Big 3-bedroom, 2story house 1.5 bath, fully-equipped eatin kitchen/appliances/new refrigerator, living, dining room, 2 porches, full basement, laundry/ storage, parking on premises, super clean, move-in condition. Near universities/hospitals/bus. $1700+.

412-337-3151

Announcements -ADOPTION -EVENTS -LOST AND FOUND -STUDENT GROUPS -WANTED -OTHER

Nice 6BR house available Aug. 1, 2016.

Laundry on site. To make an appointment call 412-812-9382.

3BR apartment available for Spring semester. Central air, dishwasher, great location and discounted price.

412-915-0856

Apartments for rent beginning August 2016. A/C, dishwasher, washer/dryer.

412-915-0856

Medical and Heart Care, Students Welcome, Private Oakland Office, Craig Street, Dean Kross, MD, 412-687-7666 Personal, professional masseuse needed. Long term position. 2X/week.

Washington County location. Call 724-223-0939 or 724229-8868 any time.

Pager: 888-200-8220 Get paid to party. Become a singles party liaison today. Earn 40% commission, residual income and bonuses. Email partyliaison@gmx.com. Act now, limited openings.

R INSERTIONS 1X 2X 3X 4X 5X 6X ADDITIONAL A 1-15 WORDS $6.30 $11.90 $17.30 $22.00 $27.00 $30.20 $5.00 T 16-30 WORDS $7.50 $14.20 $20.00 $25.00 $29.10 $32.30 $5.40 E S DEADLINE: TWO BUSINESS DAYS PRIOR BY 3 PM | EMAIL: ADVERTISING@PITTNEWS.COM | PHONE: 412.648.7978 (EACH ADDITIONAL WORD: $0.10)

SEASONAL MARKETING ASSISTANT Shadyside property management firm established in 1960 neeeds two Seasonal Marketing Assistants to work with Word, internet, & spreadsheet files from approximately December 15th to July 15th, four days/week from 9:00 AM to 6:00 PM. Saturday and/or Sunday hours a must; some flexibility on days and hours will be considered; most hours will be solitary on the computer with no phone work; 40 WPM and strong computer skills required; no experience needed & we will train you at our Shadyside office; free parking. $12/hour plus generous season end bonus.

MOZART MANAGEMENT www.mozartrents .com 412-682-7003

November 30, 2015

College or graduate school students needed to work with elementary school children in a fun, structured after school program in the South Hills. $11-$13 per hour, flexible hours, must have own transportation. Email resume or letter of interest to jhroberts66@comcast.net OFFFICE INTERN Shadyside Management Company seeks person w/ min 3 yrs. college, for upcoming spring semester, to interview & process rental applications, do internet postings & help staff our action-central office. Part time or full time OK starting January 2; full time in summer. $12/hour.

Perfect job for graduating seniors set to enter grad school, returning grad students, and first-year law students!

Mozart Management 412.682.7003. thane@mozartrents.com

ATTENTION OCCASIONAL SMOKERS! UPMC seeks healthy adults ages 18-65 who occasionally smoke cigarettes.

This research is examining how smokers respond to cigarettes that are low in nicotine.

There are up to seven sessions lasting about three hours each. Research participants completing the study will be compensated up to $60 per session, or $20 per hour. For more information, call 412-246-5393 or visit www.SmokingStudies.pitt.edu

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