The Pitt News 9-16-14

Vol. 105 Issue 30

@thepittnews RUCK OFF

Tuesday, September 16, 2014

Pittnews.com BUSING

Catch up to the PAT bus schedule in real time Emily Ahlin Staff Writer

Members of the Panther Women’s Ruby Football Club run a drill on Cathedral Lawn. Zach Schaffer | Senior Staff Photographer

Crunch time: Seniors get fit for job market Jess Muslin Staff Writer On average, job recruiters only give interested applicants six seconds of their time.

And that six seconds is how long the typical hiring manager looks at a resumé, according to UPMC recruiter and researcher Maria Gerardi. Gerardi is a Pitt graduate and spoke Wednesday at Senior Career Bootcamp in the William Pitt Union to seniors looking for tips to get hired after graduation.

The bootcamp helped students perfect their resumés and prepared them for the hir-

ing process with workshops designed to teach them how to navigate the upcoming Career Fair on Sept. 24 at the Petersen Event Center.

The Office of Career Development and Placement Assistance hosted the two-hour bootcamp, which began at 6 p.m. Along with a station set up for resumé tips, the bootcamp also had stations for interview and networking tips and job search strategies. Roughly 50 students attended the event.

Gerardi, who previously worked at the University as a student consultant and a peer adviser during the 2012-2013 school year, opened the event with a speech advising stu-

dents to capitalize section headers such as “Experience” or “Education” on their resumés, so they’ll stand out to recruiters.

She also suggested collecting business cards from recruiters at the Career Fair and writing down what each employer may have said on the back of the card so that nothing gets lost. Sending a follow up “thanks for chatting” email after the fair would also be a good idea, Gerardi said, and is not something most people think to do.

If you’re lucky enough to snag a business card and begin exchanging calls, Gerardi said to have a professional voicemail message set

If it’s 20 degrees and snowing, the bus will probably be late. The good news? Soon, bus travelers won’t have to worry abut late buses in any weather.

Last week, Port Authority added new routes to their GPS-enabled live-tracking system, accessible to users online. All 61 and 71 routes, both 54s and the 75 Ellsworth routes now include live-tracking GPS devices, according to a Sept. 11

Port Authority

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up and absolutely nothing resembling a prank message.

Gerardi discussed the Career Fair from a recruiter’s point of view and spoke about everything from how to construct the all-important resumé to how to dress appropriately for the Career Fair and future interviews.

“Speaking for UPMC personally, we get a lot of high-quality students from Pitt, and these events are where we get to meet you, so it’s a win-win situation,” Gerardi said.

Megan Robinson and Paige Kendell, both

Bootcamp

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BUSING release. The GPS devices send the buses’ locations via wireless communication to a computer server, which then turns each unique location into the time the bus will arrive at any stop along its route.

Tracking information is available on the Port Authority’s website — Realtime.portauthority. org — as well as three apps not affiliated with the Port Authority: Tiramisu, Transit and Transit Times Plus, which are supported on iPhones, iPads and most other smartphones and tablets.

All bus routes will have the tracking system by the end of this calendar year, the Port Authority website shows, and Port Authority will begin work on the light-rail (T) system to the South Hills by 2015 .

Rich Fitzgerald, an Allegheny County executive, said he expects more applications to provide real-time tracking in the future.

“In the future, riders will be able to receive alerts by text or email [as they currently can], but will also be able to find information on social media, digital station screens, audio announcements and more,” Fitzgerald said in the release.

September 16, 2014 | The Pitt News | www.pittnews.com Christine Cogley said she is excited about the changes. Cogley commutes to campus from Pittsburgh’s Allentown neighborhood.

“What excites me most about the live tracking is that I’ll finally be able to know if a bus is running late, early, on time or if there is a detour,” Cogley, a senior and accounting and finance major, said in an email.

According to Heather Pharo, a Port Authority spokeswoman, Port Authority has been working to implement real-time tracking for more than a year.

“In June 2013, our Board of Directors approved the purchase of services and additional equipment needed for the project,” Pharo said in an email.

Port Authority piloted real-time tracking on the P1 bus route in August 2013, according to Pharo.

For Cogley, this is a step in the right direction for Port Authority.

“Being a commuter from Pittsburgh and having to take PAT buses in high school and now in college, I know the frustration of missing buses, late buses, packed buses, etc.,” Cogley said. “It’s nice to know that Pittsburgh is slowly moving towards the live tracking, when so many major cities already have such a thing.”

FROM PAGE 1

BOOTCAMP seniors who will graduate in April, understand the importance of having a strong resumé.

Robinson, a chemical engineering major, came to the career bootcamp to listen to Gerardi’s speech and have a member of the career development team review her resumé.

“I came tonight because the Career Fair is in a week and to have someone look at my resumé who’s not my mom,” Robinson said.

Kendell, who is majoring in bioengineering, echoed Robinson’s value of resumés.

“The resumé is the key to everything,” she said.

Gerardi also discussed other key traits potential employees should possess, such as a strong elevator pitch — a short, autobiographical speech — and appropriate work attire. Gerardi said men should not wear brightly colored shirts and instead stick to white or light blue. Women, Gerardi said, should limit heel height to two to three inches, and completely forgo the trend of skinny-style dress pants.

Gerardi said that although it sounds rude,

it is a recruiter’s job to judge, so he or she will judge your work attire. But, she said, how students pitch themselves to employers is the most important.

What you wear carries weight, but without a proper elevator pitch, what you say can negatively outweigh any stellar Ralph Lauren ensemble.

The pitch should be short enough that you could give it in the time it takes to ride an elevator but should highlight all the important things an employer would want to hear about a potential new employee, such as qualifications, past experience in the job field and anything that would make that person stand out from other qualified individuals.

Trisha Hyatt, an employment development specialist in the Office of Career Development and Placement Assistance, helped to organize the bootcamp.

Hyatt said the office called the event a bootcamp because of the quick style of the booths. Participants spent about eight to 10 minutes at each booth, and then rotated with another group.

“We don’t want seniors feeling overwhelmed by the process,” Hyatt said regarding the short info sessions.

September 16, 2014 | The Pitt News | www.pittnews.com

EDITORIAL

OPINIONS

Academic freedom: What is it really?

The power of the purse is a persuasive thing.

Last week, the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette reported that Pitt is requiring all faculty and nonclerical staff to “irrevocably assign and transfer to the university ... rights, title and interest to all intellectual property” developed while employed.

According to Ken Service, Pitt’s vice chancellor of communication, existing policy already makes clear the University’s “ownership and control of the worldwide patent and intellectual property rights [that] result from activities of its faculty, staff and students.”

Furthermore, the policy states that the inventor “will normally receive 30 percent and the university 70 percent of the net financial returns from the licensing or other transfer of patent rights or other intellectual property rights.”

But others see it differently. In the Post-Gazette article, Cary Nelson, immediate president of the American Association of University Professors, said, “Your academic freedom doesn’t end when you create something valuable. It extends to how that [research] enters the world.”

Clearly, this issue is not a simple one, but both sides have legitimate points. Pitt deserves profits for research that occurs under its name with university-provided resources. . If the University did not provide research opportunities

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at a respected institution, researchers would have a weak foundation upon which to build their studies.

Alternatively, the University should not strip faculty of fair financial compensation when it is due. A professional athlete, despite only being able to play because of his or her franchise, should still be paid appropriately for the service he or she provides. Academics at universities should be no different.

Instead of a blanket agreement of 70:30, or anything more or less disparate, the University should address financial gain policy in a more thorough fashion. Different departments should handle faculty research differently. After all, searching for therapeutic strategies for heart disease and writing a travel journal are two completely different endeavors. Why should they fall under the same policy umbrella?

Hiring financial experts to objectively advise and consult on the matter of compensation would also provide a more objective and fair distribution of profit. A professor who spends more time on a project than another professor — while using fewer University resources to do so — should profit more.

Pitt should look beyond a general ratio and search for new methods of financial gain distribution to ensure a fair University policy on intellectual property.

THE TALBERT REPORT

Let them eat cake: The challenges of living on welfare Eli Talbert Columnist It is well-known that liberals love big government because it hands them free stuff. Free stuff, like Tshirts during O-week, the T Downtown or lunch at Pittsburgh Public Schools is always great, but living off free stuff is even better. Unfortunately, like in all occupations, living off welfare isn’t all fun and games. Here are five cons to living the dream on a big government’s dime: 1. It takes a lot of work to apply. Unfortunately, receiving government aid isn’t as easy as Republican politicians promise.

Each of the various government programs have different qualifications, all of which federal, state or local governments set. Worst of all, traditional welfare, known as Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF), actually requires you to work an outside job to receive aid. Filling out multiple forms for multiple agencies might not seem like a chore, but the process does

Cartoon by Fatima Kizilkaya

take up valuable time. People applying for Medicaid, for instance, usually receive a government determination regarding whether or not they are eligible in about 30 days. Also, if you have disabilities, you should expect the process to take up to 90 days — time you could spend lazing around in your pile of free money.

2. It has a negative image.

Much like practicing law, the profession of receiving money from the government carries a negative stigma. In fact, a 2011 poll conducted by Rasmussen found that 62 percent of Americans would prefer state-sponsored, minimum-wage jobs as an alternative to welfare — receiving money directly from the government without working for it just doesn’t seem to garner any respect from the American people. And it is doubtful that this stigma will go away anytime soon, even with a record 20 percent of households on food stamps in 2013. Taking welfare is seen as irredeemable because, as everyone knows, hard work can get you out

of any situation. Twenty percent of households must have just realized that hard work is just that — really hard. The actual people who work hard are those in the one percent — suckers.

3. There is little job security.

A major downside of living off welfare is that Congress has the ability to cut payments altogether or, more likely, to change the requirements, duration or amount.

Thus, living off welfare doesn’t secure your peace of mind. Sure, you are getting free money, but it isn’t a stable supply of free money.

Admittedly, the government takes forever to do anything, and the last comprehensive reform was in 1996, but the threat is always there. A lifetime on welfare is definitely hard to plan.

4. The pay isn’t great. Surprisingly, it is hard to live even a middle-class lifestyle on welfare. If you have the foresight to fulfill all the qualifications for the eight biggest government assistance programs,

Talbert

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September 16, 2014 | The Pitt News | www.pittnews.com

FROM PAGE 3

TALBERT then, according to a Cato Institute study, you can make more than you would working a full-time, minimum-wage job. But, for most practitioners in the art of welfare, this is simply out of reach. Most simply don’t have the capabilities to so while being a single mother with two children. Therefore, the family must subsist only on one or two of these programs. For example, the average benefit of food stamps per person, per

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month, was $133.07 in 2013 — around a ninth of what one would make working full time at minimum wage, even before the additional money from tax credits. The key around this obstacle is children — the more you have, the more welfare you are eligible for under most programs. Of course, some would say that children are actually a lot of work to raise, but it’s all about how much you put into it.

5. You are often bored. The worst part of being on welfare is the amount of free time you will have. When done properly, a

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professional welfare receiver should have large blocks of time filled with only the occasional quieting of one of your screaming babies. Sure, some find a life constantly filled with worrying about money as “stressful.” Some people even supposedly spend their time working to improve their lives, but, obviously, having made welfare your career, professional development and looking for a job is all passé. While reality TV does provide an outlet, there is only so much one can take. If you choose receiving welfare as a career, boredom is unfortu-

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T P N S U D O K U

nately part of the package.

Keeping these downsides in mind, I hope you now realize that living off welfare isn’t for everyone. To deal with the hardships of this profession, one must have a dedication to being lazy, be too timid to engage in crime or simply be so poor that you have no other option. As you continue your college career, I hope you have many experiences that will help determine if living off welfare is right for you.

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September 16, 2014 | The Pitt News | www.pittnews.com

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ARTS and ENTERTAINMENT

REVIEW

Spoon introduces wild new member, strobe light to Pittsburgh Shawn Cooke A&E Editor

After unleashing their psychedelic jam “Who Makes Your Money?” on the Carnegie of Homestead Music Hall last Thursday, Britt Daniel of Spoon took a moment to defend the record that it originally appeared on.

“That one’s from Transference. It’s been taking some hits lately,” Daniel said.

Although it was perceived as a break from the band’s ridiculously consistent run, 2010’s Transference remains the band’s most underappreciated release — and also one of their best. But, more importantly, it has left an imprint on the current tour as much as any of their recent albums. Despite suggestions from some critics of the record, it wasn’t just something Daniel had to “get out of his system.”

Spoon has almost always been tagged as “minimalist,” but Transference took the description to another level, paring tracks away to the scrappy, enhanceddemo state only hinted at in their early days. No polish, no glitz and no finish — this was the rawest they’d been, and it was refreshing. Typical pop song structure all but disappeared completely, with moody, dissonant instrumental sections filling in for second choruses and small bursts of uncaged guitar noise snuck up on otherwise conventional Spoon songs.

When the band toured in support of Transference, there were no fancy lights or backdrops — the setup was quaint enough to match the music. But for their current They Want My Soul tour, Spoon has appropriately upgraded their special effects. Their latest album sported a glitzier, slicker version of the band than we’d seen before. Its spiri-

From Fr om left: lef eftt: the the u unhinged nhin nh inge ged d Fi Fisc Fischel, sche hell D Daniel. anie an iell Ph Phot Photo to cou courtesy rtesy t off Brian Bi C Conway onway - Pit Pitt Pittsburgh tsburgh b hM Music usic i Report

tual companion, 2007’s Ga Ga Ga Ga Ga, still had some ragged edges, but They Want My Soul is almost all gloss

— which isn’t necessarily a bad thing.

Spoon

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MUSIC

Pitt musician spotlight: The Balcony Scene takes Altar Bar Elizabeth Rakow For The Pitt News

A Google search of “The Balcony Scene” will likely result in anything from Pierce the Veil lyrics to “Romeo and Juliet” references. But after a bit of scrolling, you’ll run into an upand-coming Pittsburgh band currently making its way through several local venues and breaking into the scene with a fresh sound.

Band manager and drummer Joe Aravich, a senior marketing major at Pitt, considers the band’s sound to be something totally untapped by local bands.

“We don’t really fit into any particular genre,” Aravich said. “If you had to classify it, it would be a mix between Ed Sheeran, The Goo Goo Dolls and The Maine.”

The Balcony Scene started in their hometown of DuBois, Pa., after performing together for the first time in a battle of the bands competition, which they won. Now,

the band cultivates their sound by performing in venues around Pittsburgh, including The Altar Bar and Mr. Smalls. Their upcoming show will be their most high-profile yet.

The Balcony Scene is opening for Hawthorne Heights and The Red Jumpsuit Apparatus tonight at The Altar Bar. “They weren’t going to use any local bands at first,” Aravich said. “So to get booked for a gig like this is pretty big for us.”

The band performs original songs, five of which they released on an EP entitled Ambitions, available on Spotify and iTunes, which was released last December.

“People have never listened to our music and said, ‘Oh this is okay.’ We’ve always gotten reactions like, ‘Oh this is different, this is cool,’” Aravich said. “We hope that with time, we’ll be touring and doing this for a living. Because when it comes down to it, that’s the dream.”

Aravich weighed in on The Pitt News’s

standardized survey for student musicians. this coming Tuesday shaking off pre-show Favorite Oakland pizza shop: Easily jitters) Antoon’s, even though they don’t have ranch.

Academic building you’d hold a conBiggest musical inspiration: Showman- cert in: Cathedral of Learning — it just has ship-wise — All Time Low. Writing-wise — that cool factor.

The Cab. Favorite movie with “The Rock”: “The Pacifier.” No, wait, that’s Vin Diesel. Um. The one where he’s a tooth fairy or something.

Favorite Pittsburgh venue: Anywhere we can play house shows.

Favorite place to go for inspiration: Solo walks through Schenley Park (you The Balcony Scene, at an earlier Altar Bar show. Photo courtesy of Joe Aravich can catch him there

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SPOON So, naturally, they brought strobe lights to blind everyone during a performance of “Outlier.”

This doesn’t look like the same old Spoon from a production standpoint — or even from a personnel standpoint.

Alex Fischel, who also plays with Daniel in Divine Fits, has joined the band as the official fifth member on guitar. While he bears more of a physical resemblance to keyboardist Eric Harvey, Fischel behaves like Daniel’s eccentric younger brother onstage.

While They Want My Soul seems like a reaction to the critics of Transference, the addition of Fischel is a reward to its fans. He amps up the unpredictability and is unafraid to make things sound a little ugly. On “Got Nuffin,” Fischel menacingly hammered away at one chord for half of the song, giving the mostly straight-ahead rocker some tension.

When clashing guitar noise bled into the middle of “Don’t You Evah,” it was

September 16, 2014 | The Pitt News | www.pittnews.com unclear if it was a genuine mistake or simply part of an organized disruption.

But make no mistake — Spoon is still a well-oiled live vessel. When you consider that they’re still putting out inventive records in 2014, it’s easy to forget that Daniel and drummer Jim Eno have been working together for more than 20 years. Eno’s subtle precision and Daniel’s collected confidence suggest that nothing could go wrong onstage, especially when they’re trading smiles to kick off nearly every song.

Jack White has been hailed as our “last true rock star” and headlines all the festivals, but Daniel makes a convincing case that he’s the one who deserves those accolades. Since his swagger is mostly understated, it also leaves room for some vulnerable moments.

He kneeled down for much of “Inside Out,” the recent song he calls one of his most personal. Another song that forced Daniel to hang up his guitar, “The Ghost of You Lingers,” was the most chilling moment of the night. Cataclysmic elec-

Spoon

REVIEW

U2 gives themselves away, bores on Songs of Innocence Sam Bojarski Staff Writer

No matter how many times U2 reinvents its musical identity, few people are likely to forget the budding young Irish rock band that carried itself to stardom with the early hits “Sunday Bloody Sunday” and “Pride (In the Name of Love).”

For U2, this simple fact is a doubleedged sword. Throughout the course of its illustrious career, the band has shown remarkable musical depth and versatility, which the pop community has hardly seen elsewhere. The same fan who lost himself in the words of “With or Without You” to get over a breakup could probably be found several years later, in a crowded arena, jamming out to “Mysterious Ways” while a live belly dancer accompanied the 7 band onstage.

But that fan, if only subconsciously, now expects another Joshua Tree with every new album release. Or, since U2 has already gone through its avant-garde, alternative-rocker phase, maybe the fan expects the next Achtung Baby.

Whatever the expectations, and they are always high for the world’s most famous rock band, Songs of Innocence falls short of living up to them. Along with changing its sound and image, it seems there is one more thing U2 can do that no other band can get away with: giving themselves away — for free.

On Sept. 9, U2 made Songs of Innocence available for free download to anyone with an Apple account. Apple still fronted the band a significant amount of money to release the album, but perhaps

U2

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September 16, 2014 | The Pitt News | www.pittnews.com FROM PAGE 6

U2

U2 is trying to set a precedent for other recording artists.

For all that may be lacking on Songs of Innocence, it still boasts the energy and passion that sets U2 apart. Bono’s voice seems as clear and expressive as it was in the ’80s, and The Edge continues to impress, laying down some great backing instrumentation throughout the album.

His work stands out on “Every Breaking Wave,” and “California (There Is No End to Love).”

The latter track provides the most succinct reminder of the old U2, as Bono sings about love and loss. “Iris (Hold Me Close)” may be the most emotionally charged track on the album, showing The Edge’s indispensable role as a backing vocalist. On “Iris,” U2 also shows its keen ability to keep a listener guessing, a trait often overlooked by music critics. Bono starts off singing in a high croon, backed by a light, spacey synthesizer. The Edge comes in on guitar and vocals, the song picks up tempo during the first verse and it finally explodes into a heart-wrenching chorus, powered by The Edge’s fast-paced, yet measured, guitar playing.

It seems as though U2 was going for another “Vertigo” with the first track, “The Miracle (Of Joey Ramone),” and the band has made an effort to promote this song more than any other. Just like the lead single of How to Dismantle an Atomic Bomb, “The Miracle (Of Joey Ramone)” is the first track of the album and features a distortion-heavy guitar part by The Edge and definite arena-rock potential.

“Song for Someone” is another one of Bono’s faith-based songwriting efforts.

Credit goes to him for his poignant lyrical work, although the instrumentation is rather naked. A more decisive melody, especially in the beginning, could have definitely helped accentuate the lyrics.

Bono’s songwriting on Songs of Innocence surely has its moments, but it lacks the depth and consistency we’ve seen on previous efforts. Instrumentally, U2’s newest album sounds most like their last effort, No Line on the Horizon, with a small hint of How to Dismantle an Atomic Bomb. Only a scant few tracks on Songs of

Innocence even come close to matching the depth and sense of wonder found on “City of Blinding Lights” or “A Man and a Woman,” two of U2’s finest post-2000 cuts.

U2 may never sell albums like it did in the ’80s and early ’90s, and it seems like the band understands this fact more than anyone else. But U2 will always challenge the status quo in the music world — in this case, if not with the songs themselves, then with the way it releases them.

FROM PAGE 6

SPOON

tronic bursts interrupted the simple piano line and Daniel’s sincere pleas to calm down and ease his mind.

Spoon only extended back as far as 2001’s Girls Can Tell once with “Anything You Want,” and mostly stuck to the three most recent records, aside from a few of their modest hits from Kill the Moonlight and Gimme Fiction. They’ve

7 tinkered with the formula for sure, but “Small Stakes” probably sounds just as good today as it did in 2003.

Spoon’s commitment to newer material shows that they’re not just going through the motions 20 years into one of the most remarkable runs in American indie-rock. In an era of reunions, indefinite hiatuses and constant rebranding, let Spoon stand as an example for how longevity should be achieved.

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September 16, 2014 | The Pitt News | www.pittnews.com

FOOTBALL

SPORTS

Conner big again, while defense manages its youth Ryan Bertonaschi Senior Staff Writer

Conner carries the team Coming into the season, football fans knew that Pitt had two dangerous offensive threats: running back James Conner and receiver Tyler Boyd.

It’s now week four, and one of those threats, Conner, has more carries (81) than any other player from a Power 5 conference, while Boyd has just 11 catches.

Pitt quarterback Chad Voytik has shown spurts of promise, but opponents haven’t tested his arm much. He’s only thrown 50 passes, completing 29, for 284 yards.

In fact, Voytik has actually been more efficient on the ground himself, keeping the ball 20 times for 172 yards. He’s ranked 15th nationally in yards per rush (8.6).

Nonetheless, Pitt head coach Paul Chryst needs to see point production coming from other areas.

“For different reasons, it hasn’t been as consistent as we like,” Chryst said of Pitt’s passing game. “You want to be a balanced offense.

There are games when you’re going to be able to run the ball to win and there’s going to be

VOLLEYBALL

games when you need to throw the ball to win, and so you want to be able to trust that and go with it.”

Historically speaking, Pitt has never had a back come running out of the gates quite like Conner.

The sophomore bruiser now maintains a Power 5 conference-leading 545 total rushing yards. In Saturday’s win over FIU, he cruised past Tony Dorsett’s previous Pitt record of 487 yards through a season’s first three games.

Conner leads the nation in touchdowns (eight), and he is also giving Pitt a respectable 6.7 yards per carry.

Young defensive line holding up Defensive end David Durham reportedly suffered an unspecified shoulder injury last week and did not make the trip to Miami on Saturday for the game against FIU. Chryst said the staff will continue to assess Durham’s health and that Durham, a redshirt senior, would take practice off until he’s ready.

“We’ll see where he’s at. Hopefully it’s nothing long-term. I don’t believe it is,” Chryst said.

In Durham’s place was freshman Luke Maclean, who shared a sack with redshirt junior Devin Cook. Freshman Rori Blair also got reps at end, recording two tackles.

“They’re accepting that we’re going to need them to play,” Pitt defensive tackle Darryl Render said.

Superhuman Scherff Undefeated Pitt faces 2-1 Iowa at noon Saturday at Heinz Field.

Iowa has a massive offensive line led by left tackle Brandon Scherff, a 6-foot-5, 320-pound senior who projects as a first-round NFL draft pick.

Scherff suffered a knee injury in the Hawkeyes’ week two 17-13 win over Ball State and reportedly underwent surgery days later.

This past Saturday, less than a week after he had the reported surgery, Scherff started for Iowa in its last-second 20-17 loss to rival Iowa State.

Pitt safety Ray Vinopal played against Iowa as a freshman reserve at Michigan before transferring to Pitt’s defense recovered from a poor start on Saturday. Krono Lescano | The Beacon Pitt.

“We’ve got to come out physical from the jump,” Vinopal, a redshirt senior, do the same. We’re going to have to play errorsaid. “They don’t mess up. When a team Football 9 doesn’t kick themselves in the foot, you can’t

Volleyball team reflects on weekend Caitlin Hinsey Staff Writer

Pitt volleyball bounced back after its sole loss this season when the team competed in its own tournament, the Panther Classic, by sweeping Duquesne, Norfolk State and Niagara.

The Panthers (8-1) won their first five matches — now eight of nine after this weekend. In each of its wins, Pitt has not given a single set to its opponent.

Jessica Wynn was named the Panther Classic MVP. The senior outside hitter finished the weekend with two Pitt dominated its opposition. Heather Tennant | Staff double-doubles. Wynn also had comPhotographer pany on the All-Tournament Team.

Teammates Amanda Orchard, Jenna Potts and Delaney Clesen also received honors.

Orchard, who had 17 kills during the weekend, said that, despite the team’s success, there is “still another level” that the team hasn’t shown yet.

Head coach Dan Fisher added that Pitt’s middles, Potts and Orchard, were strong this past weekend, but, otherwise, he would agree.

“I think Jess has been our best offensive player, but I would say slightly.

I think the strength of this team is that we can set anyone. We don’t have just one player that we are relying on,” Fisher said.

Securing, and eventually holding

on to, a lead was the key to Pitt’s success in each of its three games. Pitt only trailed once throughout the weekend, but, even then, the Panthers did not allow Norfolk State’s one-point lead to last long. Pitt also won every set by four points or more, with the biggest point differential coming against Norfolk State when Pitt won one of the sets 25-14.

In the first home match of the season, Pitt faced cross-city rival Duquesne (5-4). Pitt revenged a prior loss from two years ago with a three-set sweep of its own and halted Duquesne’s three-match win streak.

Volleyball

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September 16, 2014 | The Pitt News | www.pittnews.com FROM PAGE 8

FROM PAGE 8

FOOTBALL

VOLLEYBALL

free because we know they’re going to play error-free.”

Chryst handcuffs Officer Alex Officer got his first start at center Saturday in place of the injured Artie Rowell, although Chryst said Officer does not have the starting gig locked up.

Officer, a redshirt freshman, is competing with Gabe Roberts, a redshirt sophomore, and the battle will continue at practice this week.

“I think what it does, it forces them to truly grow,” Chryst said of the arrangement.

At FIU, Officer and second-string quarterback Trey Anderson mishandled a snap in the fourth quarter, resulting in a fumble, although Pitt recovered.

Pitt received 40 votes in the most recent Associated Press top 25 poll, released on Sunday, making it ranked 33rd. Two ACC teams made the list: No. 1 Florida State and No. 22 Clemson. Other conference schools receiving votes include North Carolina (82), Duke (55), Virginia Tech (54), Boston College (22), Virginia (six) and Louisville (two).

Pitt held control of the first set but was challenged when the Dukes brought the score within one, 12-11. The hosts fought off an offensive attack from the visitors and scored 13 of the next 20 points to finish the set with a 25-18 victory.

“Last year, when we would get a lull in the game, we might drop one of the sets,” Orchard said. “This year, we are a new team. We’re a lot stronger and a lot tougher.”

The second set was a close match for the Panthers. The score went back and forth, with the teams tying multiple times before Pitt took a four-point lead, 16-12, that it never lost. Pitt would go on to win that set 25-19, before following up with a final set triumph, 25-15, thanks to a team hitting percentage of .429. Six Panthers recorded three or more kills, and the team recorded 19 for the set. Wynn, Orchard, Maria Genitsaridi, Casey Durham and Mechael Guess all had three kills. Potts led the team with four. Wynn and Lindsey

Zitzke both had double-doubles, while Durham tallied a career-high 11 kills.

Saturday wasn’t a problem for Pitt, either. In its first match of the day, Pitt faced a winless Norfolk State squad. In the opening set, the Spartans battled back within two points to trail the Panthers 22-20. Pitt attempted to shift momentum by calling a timeout to try to slow down Norfolk State’s tempo. Pitt came out of the timeout and scored the final three points, including a service ace by Zitzke, one of twelve in the match for the Panthers.

According to Orchard, it’s all about having “faith” and a mentality that “the next point is ours” when the team tries to fight out of a slump.

Teammate Mariah Bell added that, “Once we realize we are only up by a couple points, that’s when we start getting more fire and energy.”

Pitt’s solid offense continued into the second set, with the team scoring six straight points. The Panthers then used that quick start to easily handle the Spartans 25-11. The Panthers again jumped out to an early lead in the third set before surrendering four points. The

9 Spartans then weaseled their way past the Panthers to establish a 15-14 lead.

That lead didn’t last, as Pitt scored five straight points and never lost the lead again, winning the set 25-18.

A breakout star in this match for Pitt was freshman outside hitter Bell. Bell had nine kills in the match, with five coming in the final set.

“When they used me in the front row, I was swinging hard and high. I was facing every hit trying to get a kill every time,” Bell said.

Each of the three matches against Niagara was close, with Pitt managing to pull out a win. Pitt beat the Purple Eagles 25-19, 25-21, 25-19. Niagara (4-6) had a tough time stopping Pitt’s serving.

Jenna Jacobson started the second set serving five straight points with three service aces. Jacobson recorded seven aces throughout the weekend.

Pitt wraps up tournament play this weekend when they host the Pitt Panther Invitational. Pitt will face South Florida on Friday at 7 p.m. in the Fitzgerald Field House. On Saturday, Pitt will face Sacred Heart and Delaware.

September 16, 2014 | The Pitt News | www.pittnews.com

The Pitt News Crossword, 9/16/2014

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ACROSS 1 Fraternal title for a fictional fox 5 Easily bamboozled sort 10 Former Mach 2 fliers, briefly 14 Top-rated 15 Hawaii hello 16 Butterlike spread 17 Steak cut 18 U.S.-Canada defense letters 19 With 54-Down, longtime Jeep competitor 20 Hockey player’s blade cover 22 __ Place: Butch and Sundance companion 23 Music rights gp.

24 Wonderland cake words 26 Bolivian capital 30 Ticked off 33 www help pages 36 Old vendor of cold blocks 39 French king 40 Sch. in Columbus 41 Regain, and hint to a hidden letter arrangement in 20and 59-Across and 11- and 35-Down 42 Sound system part 43 Xbox 360 competitor 44 Log-on requirement 45 Work on a keyboard 46 Mechanic on TV’s “Taxi” 48 Foil maker 50 Sinclair Lewis’ “__ Gantry” 53 Swampy areas 57 Senate gofer 59 Meticulous, as premium service 63 Swine’s supper 64 No longer squeaking 65 Fifty-fifty 66 Get a glimpse of 67 Do a bakery job 68 Socially awkward type 69 Bustle 70 “My apologies” 71 Prohibitionists

9/16/14

By Gail Grabowski and Bruce Venzke

DOWN 1 Lightweight wood 2 Corner chessmen 3 Room-size computer unveiled in 1946 4 U-Haul vans, e.g.

5 Sign of hunger 6 Baseball family name 7 Afghanistan’s __ Bora 8 Divvy up 9 When tripled, “and so on” 10 Serious 11 Roofing color 12 No-frills shelter 13 Fountain drink 21 Org. concerned with greenhouse gases 25 Gas holder 27 Bakery array 28 French play part 29 Striped equine 31 One-sided win 32 “Holy cow!”

33 Pheasant or turkey 34 Sri Lanka setting 35 Rather nice 37 Letters in a box

Monday’s Puzzle Solved

©2014 Tribune Content Agency, LLC

38 Electrical adapter letters 41 Largest of the Mariana Islands 45 Final part 47 Compulsive thief, for short 49 Texter’s “Zounds!”

51 Furry “Star Wars” creatures 52 Thick-skinned beast

9/16/14

54 See 19-Across 55 All-inclusive adjective 56 Ships 57 Subtle “Over here!”

58 Kibbles ’n Bits alternative 60 Robert of “The Sopranos” 61 Fabric mishap 62 Whirling current