The Pitt News 10-20-14

Vol. 105 Issue 52

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Monday, October 20, 2014 MCT Campus

Where there’s smoke ...

Jimmy Carter highlights energy efficiency

page 2

MCT Campus

The Millennial economy Bethel Habte on Obama’s advice

page 5

Members of Planned Parenthood: Generation Action ran in their bras on Sunday to highlight that sexual assault occurs no matter what the victim is wearing. Meghan Sunners | Staff Photographer

Oakland residents contemplate Internet service provider switch Kathy Zhao Staff Writer

Amy Howell has a lot of halffinished movies in her Netflix queue.

“We have a TV that can stream from Netflix,” Howell

said. “But we were never able to watch a movie start to finish because the Internet would always cut out in the middle and disconnect our movie.”

Howell, a junior bioengineering major and North Oakland resident, switched her In-

ternet service provider from Comcast XFINITY to Verizon in August after experiencing technical issues, including Internet service that often disconnected or was unreliable.

Verizon

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Two more wins

Pitt tacks on two victories on ACC road trip

page 7

Meghan Sunners | Staff Photographer

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October 20, 2014 | The Pitt News | www.pittnews.com

NEWS

The future of coal: Environmental relations discussed at Pitt Dale Shoemaker Staff Writer In 2006, China built two coal-fired power plants every week. In 2013, China built not even one coal-fired power plant per week.

Although it produces and consumes half of the world’s coal, China, because of pressure from its citizens and the international community, has recognized the need to seek out more sustainable sources of energy.

Ailun Yang, senior associate at the World Resources Institute, spoke about this at the eighth annual China Town Hall: Local Connections, National Reflections, on Thursday at Pitt. The seminar included a live, nationally broadcast webcast by former President Jimmy Carter.

Carter, known for his key role in es-

tablishing peaceful relations between the United States and China during his time in office, answered questions sent in via Twitter users.

“I have urged China and the United States to form an alliance,” Carter said during the webcast. “The two greatest polluters on earth are China and the United States. If we can come out with a common approach to curbing carbon emissions, other countries will follow suit.”

Yang’s talk, titled “Coal and Sustainability in China,” followed the 31st annual Pittsburgh Coal Conference, hosted by Pitt’s Swanson School of Engineering, earlier this month. Coal has played a significant role in the development of cities in both the United States and China. Yang’s talk highlighted the importance of finding

a place for coal alongside more sustainable forms of energy, such as hydro and wind power.

Katherine Carlitz, assistant director of academic affairs at the Asian Studies Center, organized the event and said the goal was to educate the Pitt community on energy efficiency issues.

Similar Town Hall meetings occurred in 73 other cities in the U.S. the same night as part of an effort by The National Committee on United States-China Relations and the Carter Center, Carter’s nongovernmental nonprofit, to promote national discussion the issue.

Yang began her talk with a recap of China’s current energy usage.

Sixty-six percent of China’s total energy comes from coal, she said, and only 8.4 percent comes from renewable sources, such as oil, nuclear power and

natural gas. Nuclear power and natural gas require substantial amounts of water and are often not available because of a lack of water in some provinces and water pollution in others.

Air pollution in China has gotten so bad, Yang said, that the Chinese government has had no other option than to make efforts toward using sustainable energy.

U.S. ambassadors in Beijing tested the degree of the air pollution in 2008 by placing a PM2.5 meter, a device that measures fine particles in the air, outside of the embassy, Yang said. The meter produced negative readings, and through an app called Real-time PM2.5 Air Quality Index, Chinese citizens were able to access information on the level of air pol-

Coal

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October 20, 2014 | The Pitt News | www.pittnews.com FROM PAGE 1

VERIZON Robert Grove, vice president of public relations for Comcast in the western Pennsylvania region, said he regrets that some students have had issues with their Comcast service but insisted Comcast is “working hard to make significant investments to improve customer experience.”

He declined to comment further on individual complaints from Oakland customers.

Verizon launched its fiber optic network, Verizon FiOS, in August 2009.

Construction of the network will finish in the Pittsburgh area next September, but FiOS is available now in some small areas of Oakland to prepare for the citywide availability next year. Some Pitt students and Oakland residents decided to switch to Verizon because of the presence of another cable and Internet option aside from Comcast XFINITY, the popular Internet and cable provider in the area. A 2010 map of cable and Inter-

net service providers from the Federal Communications Commission showed that Comcast dominates the Pittsburgh area nearly exclusively.

“Our presence in Oakland is strong among Pitt students,” Grove said. “Sales this year to the Pitt student popula-

“Many young professionals and collegeaged students are looking for services that rely on upload speed.”

Lee Gierczynski tion were very good before the start of the school year, which is something we continue to see year after year.”

Lee Gierczynski, Verizon regional spokesperson for Pennsylvania, New Jersey and Delaware, said downloading

3

and uploading are the prime reasons why Verizon will be competitive in the Oakland market.

“Many young professionals and college-aged students are looking for services that rely on upload speed,” Gierczynski said. “Rather than just using the internet for emailing, the younger generation wants to share pictures, videos, all sorts of graphic media. We’re able to offer equal download and upload speeds.”

FiOS will include download and upload speeds of up to 500 megabits per second, Gierczynski said, compared to Comcast’s 150 listed on their website.

Alli Soenksen, a senior majoring in finance, said she’s currently experiencing problems with Comcast Internet service in her apartment on Semple Street. She and her roommates said they plan to change from Comcast to Verizon in the future as well.

“We started the school year with the Comcast box from the summer and the

Verizon

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4 FROM PAGE 2

COAL

lution at any time.

“In Beijing,” Yang said, “sometimes ... you can’t even see the building in front of you. This [realization has occurred] within one generation ... they realized we have cars and houses but no clean air.”

In response to overwhelming discontent from the public, the Chinese government launched a campaign against air

October 20, 2014 | The Pitt News | www.pittnews.com pollution that addressed public health, provided transparent data, like the daily degree of air pollution, and encouraged corporations to reduce their use of coal.

Roughly 25 Pitt students and community members concerned with reducing pollution efforts in China and the United States attended.

“This is going to be a huge issue, the relationship between the U.S. and the rest of the world, and China is taking a more assertive role,” Stephen Wludarski, a history and political science major,

said. “It’s important for students to learn about this.”

Stephen A. Orlins, president of the National Committee on United StatesChina Relations, hosted the webcast during which Carter answered question about U.S.-China relations.

Both Carter and Orlins agreed that good relations between the U.S. and China are essential for environmental progress.

“Getting that relationship right is the key to peace and stability,” Orlins said during the webcast.

FROM PAGE 3

VERIZON Wi-Fi worked perfectly,” Soenksen said.

“Then, a Comcast sales representative came to our apartment offering us a discounted rate, for faster and updated WiFi. We agreed and he installed the new box. Ever since, we haven’t had reliable Internet throughout the entire house.”

Grove declined to comment on this matter as well.

Soenksen said she and her roommates purchased a new wireless router, suspecting that may have been the problem, but the Internet still malfunctioned.

Verizon High Speed DSL, the precursor to FiOS, came to western Pennsylvania roughly seven years ago, Gierczynski said.

“When Verizon entered the market we brought competition and choice to the market,” Gierczynski said. “It has forced competitors to innovate and keep up with what Verizon is offering in the market, [and] once the construction of the network is complete, marketing and communication with the customers will increase.”

Editor’s note: Alli Soensken works on the business staff at The Pitt News.

October 20, 2014 | The Pitt News | www.pittnews.com

EDITORIAL

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OPINIONS

#Gamergate exemplifies the issues within gaming culture The gamer culture has always been regarded as a sort of boys club. Most game developers and players are men, and the majority of female game characters are over-sexualized.

Recently, the ‘boys club’ perception has been exacerbated by the #Gamergate movement.

What originally started as a protest against corruption among the video game press, for it was alleged — and later proved false — that female game developer Zoe Quinn was exchanging sex for positive reviews, #Gamergate eventually turned into a question of gamer identity. Who are “gamers?” What do they and the games they play represent?

Traditionally, one thinks of “gamers” as white, middle class, younger males. But women have become more and more prominent within the gaming community, and not everyone is willing to accept the trend.

Leigh Alexander, an editor for the video game news site Gamasutra wrote that #Gamergate shows just how controversial the term “gamer” is now. “‘Gamer’ isn’t just a dated demographic label that most people increasingly prefer not to use. Gamers are over. That’s why they’re so mad,” she wrote.

In essence, a larger audience, one that actively includes women, is threatening the traditional “gamer” identity. As more women become active in the industry, the more back-

lash the gamer community receives — stemming specifically from #Gamergate.

For instance, indie game developer Quinn was slut-shamed and threatened consistently on Twitter after accusations arose that she was sleeping with gaming journalists.

Another game developer, Brianna Wu, had to leave her home after her address was released through 8chan — a 4chan spinoff that was removed from the site — and she began receiving threats in response to her public criticism of the #Gamergate movement.

The most striking example of the #Gamergate backlash against outspoken women regards Anita Sarkeesian. Sarkeesian is a prominent feminist video game critic who has posted vlogs such as “Tropes vs. Women in Video Games.” Her talk scheduled for Utah State University next week was canceled after she received a threatening email from someone claiming to be part of the #Gamergate movement.

“If you do not cancel her talk, a Montreal Massacre-style attack will be carried out against the attendees, as well as students and staff at the nearby Women’s Center. I have at my disposal a semi-automatic rifle, multiple pistols and a collection of pipe bombs,” the anonymous email said.

Obviously, the people who are reacting extremely and violently aren’t part of the

majority, yet those making threats do seem to be part of the movement — one that seems to be hypersensitive to any form of criticism or change.

But why are “gamers” so defensive? Other forms of media, such as movies, TV shows and books, receive similar forms of criticism based on gender portrayals. But criticism is typically not met with violence as with these cases simply because, as Sarkeesian says in “Tropes vs.

Women in Video Games,” “It’s both possible, and even necessary, to simultaneously enjoy media, while also being critical of its more problematic or pernicious aspects.”

Most criticism of video games does not intend to eradicate the media but tries, instead, to make it better. Naturally, such criticism is met with desired changes, such as more women taking part in the industry itself. Hollywood has responded to this, as critiques of submissive female roles has spurred an increase in strong female leads — see: “The Hunger Games.” So why is it that video games have to be, somehow, different?

Perhaps it is because, in video games, players actively participate in the media itself, which makes them more sensitive to the “gamer” identity and, thus, more defensive against change and criticism. But this doesn’t mean that the “gamer” identity can’t expand to include other voices and points of view.

Stephanie Roman, a video game beat writer for The Pitt News, said in regard to this trend in the video game industry, “The more outspoken you are, the more attacks you will receive ... if you post something critical on a website and they see that you are a woman, you are more likely to be attacked.” It doesn’t help that, according to the U.S. Bureau of Justice Statistics, feminine online usernames incurred an average of 100 sexually explicit or threatening messages a day.

When asked about whether or not the gaming community is accommodating enough towards women, Roman said, “If I think about my white male friends and listen to their comments while playing ‘Call of Duty,’ I don’t think so.” She went on to explain, “I don’t want to say it’s an exclusively white middle class male problem, but parts of the gaming community that used to be really accommodating to women are on the decline.”

The gaming community must accept criticism to become more accommodating towards women. For that to happen, those in the gaming community who are not OK with backlash women such as Quinn and Sarkeesian received need to stand up in support of them.

Perhaps this can be done with a new hashtag, #WomenAreGamersToo.

COLUMN

Obama: Why I’m betting on you to fix the economy Bethel Habte Columnist

Growing up as a millennial, it’s always seemed like the U.S. government approached economic reform like a never-ending game of peekaboo. “Where’s the money? There it is!”

Someone claims to have found a solution, and then there begins another round of heated debates and lackluster suggestions — we have become all too used to this while coming of age during the recession.

And now the government has invited us

to play along.

Obama recently took to Medium, a blog publishing platform, to share a post addressed to millennials titled “Why I’m Betting on You to Help Shape the New American Economy.”

I think it would be more fitting if it was instead titled “Why I Think Calling It a New Economy Will Make Up for the Fact That I’ve Given Up on Economic Reform.”

Obama’s sentiments, though well-intentioned, do more harm than good when it comes to easing the millennial burden.

The president’s effort to “Shape the New

American Economy” centers around several key facets of millennial behavior: our ties to technology, determination to receive an education and entrepreneurial spirit.

His assertions fail to acknowledge, however, that these aspects of millennial behavior arose not out of a desire to transform the economic system, but as a desperate measure to infiltrate the system in place.

While he alludes to the challenges millennials have faced integrating into the workforce, his solutions do little to address the root of the issue.

He writes, “And we know that when we invest in your potential, rather than stack the deck in favor of the folks who are already at the top, our entire economy does better,” to herald his administration’s efforts in making education and healthcare more accessible to millennials.

But if the government is confident that economic equality is the answer, why does it continue to treat economic reform as such a baffling endeavor?

Habte

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October 20, 2014 | The Pitt News | www.pittnews.com

FROM PAGE 5

HABTE

Economists have already determined, time after time, that income inequality has a detrimental effect on job creation and economic growth.

Politicians have yet to determine the direct cause of economic inequality. Debates range from faults in our tax system, government policies, job creation, corporations, greed, wage gaps, the opportunities and powers of the rich, recessions and government assistance programs.

Yet, as heated debates on inequality’s roots have occupied our time, the inequality gap has

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The Pitt News Crossword, 10/21/2014

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ACROSS 1 Part of 10/29/14 6 With the bow, to a violist 10 “The Godfather” novelist 14 Its strings are tuned in perfect fifths 15 Gulp (down) 16 Alternative to Windows 17 Geometric products 18 Patron saint of Norway 19 Evening, informally 20 Classic country song with the lyric “I’ve lived my life in vain” 22 Pass the welcome mat 23 Gambler’s method 24 Image handlers, for short 26 “Clueless” actress Donovan 29 Ice cream treat 32 L x XLVIII 35 Support for a weak joint 37 Deforestation remnant 38 __-Locka, Florida 39 Manners expressed in letters 41 Queen Victoria’s realm, e.g.: Abbr.

42 Kibbutz teacher 44 Steady fellow 45 U.K. mil. awards 46 Buzzard’s grippers 48 Big name in appliances 50 Les __-Unis 52 California wine region 56 Newsletter choice 58 Writer/director known for his coming-of-age films 61 Genesis son 62 Golden rule word 63 Showy flowers, for short 64 “Deadliest Catch” narrator Mike 65 Not quite dry 66 Eagle’s hideaway 67 Place for private dining?

continued to steadily grow, with talk taking precedence over action. In 2013, Obama admitted that 95 percent of income gains were going to the top 1 percent. Even at its lowest, the income gap is alarmingly high. Hawaii has the lowest gap between the highest 1 and lower 99 percent of its population, but with the 1 percent still earning 12.1 times the income of that of the average 99 percenter.

It is commendable that the Obama administration has expressed a desire to tackle the issue of economic inequality. However, Obama must realize that, before he begins betting on millennials to “Shape the New American Economy,” he must first bet on himself to “Fix the American Economy” that is already

E S T A B L I S HE D 1 9 1 0

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10/29/14

By Allan E. Parrish

68 First name in mysteries 69 Political essay DOWN 1 Picket line crossers 2 “Bad, Bad” Brown of song 3 A’s and Jays 4 Not on the level 5 Inexpensive lodging 6 Missing reveille, perhaps 7 Chewy candy brand 8 Purse fastener 9 Bids 10 Strong-smelling 11 Deduction on many paychecks 12 Rigatoni alternative 13 Field team 21 Drops 25 Rumple, with “up” 27 “Born From Jets” automaker 28 Sleep __ 30 Arsenal supply 31 “Love & Basketball” actor Omar 32 Media mogul Zuckerman

Tuesday’s Puzzle Solved

©2014 Tribune Content Agency, LLC

33 Film-rating org.

34 24/7 information provider 36 Mild cheese 39 Colada fruit 40 Suppress 43 Pop holders 45 Pendant earring, say 47 Children’s hosp. co-founded by Danny Thomas 49 Chewy candy

in place.

While we millennials may be a more educated, technologically savvy and independent generation than our predecessors, that potential means nothing without the opportunity to actively progress in the economy.

It’s a realization that can tend to generate bitter sentiment toward Obama’s heartfelt plea for millennial aid.

It appears as if Obama has passed along generations’ worth of piling economic struggles under the pretense of an opportunity to revamp the American economy.

In reality, there is no new American economy, and there will never be an old American economy. There has only been and will only

10/29/14

51 Sub tracker 53 “BUtterfield 8” novelist 54 Physician at the front 55 It’s a good thing 56 Growing concern?

57 Double-reed woodwind 59 Standard Web page code 60 “You wish”

ever be one American economy.

If our government is so excited to see what the American economy will look like under millennial control, it might look to Fusion’s Massive Millennial Poll, which revealed the issues most important to millennials are the economy, debt, spending and terrorism heading into the midterm elections.

But they might want to do more than simply acknowledge what millennials want. Currently, we are the largest generation coming of voting age — what we lack in economic power, we make up for in political power.

And we’re not looking to play any games.

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October 20, 2014 | The Pitt News | www.pittnews.com

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SPORTS

FOOTBALL

Expanded playbook improves Voytikʼs offensive production Dan Sostek Assistant Sports Editor

Chad Voytik’s first six career starts have been inconsistent, to say the least. There have been flashes of potential thrown alongside ill-advised decisions and overthrown passes, as well as plays that broke down because Voytik was trying too hard to create high-risk plays when no clear pass existed.

Despite some blips on the radar, Voytik’s seventh career start on Thursday against Virginia Tech stands out as the best of the sophomore’s career.

While head coach Paul Chryst didn’t ask him to do much while throwing the football — he was just 10-17 for 92 yards and a touchdown — Voytik wreaked havoc on the Hokies’ run defense, leading the team with 118 rushing yards on 19 carries.

According to Chryst, the team’s game plan influenced the young quarterback’s reliance on his legs, but Chryst decided to keep using it, as it seemed to work.

“We called more runs and options for

Chad Voytik led Pitt with a career-high 118 yards Thursday. Meghan Sunners | Staff Photographer

Chad. We thought that was something that could provide a spark to the offense,” said Chryst, who is now 2-1 against Virginia

Tech as head coach, in his postgame press conference. “We got to the point where it was certainly something we wanted to

do more of.”

Clearly, he intended to implement that game plan immediately: The Panthers’ first offensive play was a quarterback keeper, during which Voytik gained 11 yards for a first down.

Only sacked twice, Voytik had rushes for 11, 12, 14, 17 and 49 yards. His teammates were also impressed with his performance running the ball.

“He was a beast,” said sophomore running back James Conner, who ran 16 times for 89 yards and two touchdowns in the game. “He was confident and ran over 100 yards again and did his job.”

Defensive end David Durham, who tallied a sack and two quarterback hits against the Hokies, was also complimentary of his teammate.

“I knew he was a quick athlete and I was really impressed by his toughness tonight,” Durham said. “When your quarterback can do that, it really inspires the team and fires everybody up.”

Football

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VOLLEYBALL

Panthers pick up two more ACC wins over weekend Caitlin Hinsey Staff Writer

Playing in front of two of the ACC’s toughest crowds didn’t prevent the Pitt women’s volleyball team from picking up two more conference wins over the weekend, continuing an impressive season. With the NCAA Tournament in their sights, the Panthers (17-2, 5-1 ACC) beat both of their weekend opponents — Georgia Tech 3-0 Friday evening and Clemson 3-1 Sunday afternoon.

“It was really awesome to come into the weekend and get two wins,” senior opposite Kate Yeazel said. “Georgia Tech is a really hard environment to play in, as well as anywhere in the ACC, when you are on

the road.”

“We did a pretty good job offensively and blocking the team. They had some pretty good hitters, but our defense was good,” sophomore outside hitter Maria Genitsaridi said. “Everything worked today.”

“To beat good teams, you need to have good performances,” head coach Dan Fisher said. “Our whole team came to play, and, in big moments, we got a lift from everyone.”

Georgia Tech The Yellow Jackets (9-12, 2-6 ACC) weren’t a challenge for Pitt when the team traveled to O’Keefe Gym Friday evening.

Pitt swept its opponent for the 13th time this year, 25-18, 25-14 and 25-22.

Missing junior and top hitter Amanda

Orchard because of personal reasons, Pitt relied on three seniors at the net. Opposites Mechael Guess and Yeazel, along with outside hitter Jessica Wynn tallied for 31 of Pitt’s 46 kills. Guess led the team with 11.

Senior libero Delaney Clesen had a matchhigh 13 digs.

After Pitt easily won the first two sets, set three featured more drama, as both teams exchanged points early. Georgia Tech eventually took a 20-17 lead, forcing a timeout by the Panthers. Pitt regrouped itself to tie the set at 22 with kills by Yeazel. A Wynn kill gave Pitt a 23-22 lead that turned into a match victory.

Clemson Both Pitt and Clemson (14-6, 3-4 ACC)

entered Sunday’s televised match on a three-game winning streak, but Pitt left as the ultimate winner. Although they lost set one 24-26, the Panthers took the next three sets 25-17, 25-20, 25-21. Genitsaridi scored the final point in each of the final three sets.

In the third meeting between the two teams, Yeazel had a match-high 16 kills, and Genitsaridi recorded 15 kills along with 13 digs to give her a double-double.

Clesen continued to anchor the backcourt with 19 digs.

The Panthers’ energy from Friday’s match carried over into set one as they

Volleyball

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October 20, 2014 | The Pitt News | www.pittnews.com

WOMEN’S SOCCER

Panthers shut out in loss to third straight ranked team Kevin Wheeler Staff Writer

The Pitt women’s soccer team must be relieved the weekend is over.

The Panthers completed a three-game stretch of matches against nationally ranked ACC opponents Saturday afternoon. They lost to No. 2 Florida State 3-0 at Ambrose Urbanic Field.

The contest was fairly one-sided, as the Seminoles (14-1-0, 7-0-0 ACC) tallied 31 shots on their offensive chances, while Pitt (6-9-0, 2-5-0 ACC) barely entered Florida State’s half of the pitch until late in the second half.

One bright spot for Pitt was the team’s most consistent player thus far this season, sophomore goalkeeper Taylor Francis.

Although she gave up three goals in this match, Francis faced 19 shots on goal on her way to tying the school record for saves in a single game with 16 — increasing her ACCleading season saves total to 78 on the year.

Head coach Greg Miller said Francis is consistently performing well for the Panthers and without her, the Florida State result may have been worse.

“She has done way more than the call of duty to try and keep us in games,” Miller said.

“Do you expect that out of every player, to go above and beyond the call of duty? Sure, but she’s proven that game in and game out ... Any time you have a good goalkeeper, you’ve got a chance, and we certainly have that in Taylor Francis right now.”

Pitt faced pressure in the defensive zone all afternoon against the Seminoles, and the defensive back line had a hard time dealing with it.

But it wasn’t just the Panthers’ defensive effort that caused this loss. “[Florida State] had their entire team in our half of the field, and, with a team as good as them, we sat in and tried to get all of our Hanna Hannesdottir dribbles around an FSU player. Jeff Ahearn | Assistant Visual Editor

Soccer

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October 20, 2014 | The Pitt News | www.pittnews.com FROM PAGE 8

SOCCER numbers behind the ball,” senior co-captain Jackie Poucel said. “Although we had kept some possession, we lacked the connection in the final third on transition.”

Miller said giving the opponent time in possession to figure out the defense makes it difficult to stop the offense.

“When there’s a little bit of extra pressure that gets applied, it sometimes can freak people out if they’re not comfortable enough on the ball, and our kids aren’t comfortable enough on the ball as it is,” Miller said. “We just aren’t as technically sharp as we need to be.”

Pitt knew it was facing a highly ranked opponent and leaving the game with a win was unlikely. Poucel said this helped the team move on to focus on the next contest.

“It’s not as big of a deal as other games because we know how good they are and it could have been worse,” Poucel said. “It’s not a loss that crushes us, especially knowing we have two games this coming weekend that we can definitely win.”

This loss drops the Panthers to 12th in

the ACC standings, placing them just above the winless Miami Hurricanes and NC State Wolfpack.

One positive performance in the game came from freshman Hanna Hannesdottir.

The freshman has shown maturity on the field this season — a maturity that continues as the season winds down.

“We have three more games left, so where we sit in the conference right now doesn’t mean anything until we are finished,” she said.

“We lost [Saturday], but it’s over and we have to focus on the next game. We’ll just keep getting stronger as a team every day like we have been all year.”

Miller said while he has started to emphasize the team’s ACC rank, he also wants to focus on improvement within the team.

“We always talk about controlling what we can control. We don’t have any ability to affect other results, so where we finish in the standings has a lot to do with what we do,” Miller said. “It would be great to play games and sit back and hope that other teams lose ... but at the end of the day, you have to be responsible for your own result.”

Pitt next faces Louisville at home at Ambrose Urbanic Field on Thursday at 7 p.m.

FROM PAGE 7

FOOTBALL Voytik’s 118 rushing yards were a career high, surpassing his total of 114 against Florida International on Sept. 13.

He also set a few other personal bests on Thursday, including his longest career touchdown pass on a perfectly thrown 53-yard connection with sophomore wide receiver Tyler Boyd.

Boyd returned the favor later, as the former high school quarterback completed a pass to Voytik for a 29-yard completion on a trick play. Voytik said the catch was his first reception since he was in middle school.

After the game, he talked about how important the 21-16 victory could be.

“This can be our turning point,” Voytik said. “This is where we can look back and

9 say, ‘This is where we turned the page.’”

Voytik’s performance against the Hokies came at a crucial time for the season.

Against a good Virginia Tech defense, he displayed a level of athleticism that not many quarterbacks possess.

Pitt’s coaches can still add plenty of new wrinkles to the offense, as they did on Thursday. Having a mobile quarterback opens up plays with Voytik running instead of passing, like option runs, zone reads and even flexing Voytik out from under center.

It’s surely a different look for Pitt at quarterback, as the program has tended to start traditional drop-back passers in recent years. But Voytik’s legs open up a whole array of new possibilities. If he improves his accuracy as a passer, especially with weapons like Boyd and Conner, this Panther offense could develop into one of the more explosive ones in the ACC.

“We can look back and say ‘this is where we turned the page’” Chad Voytik

T P N S U D O K U

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10 FROM PAGE 7

VOLLEYBALL scored six straight to lead 6-1. The lead diminished as the Tigers came back to tie the score. Both teams exchanged points for the rest of the set with no team’s margin larger than two, and Clemson eventually won the set.

“The one disappointment of the match was how we started defensively,” Fisher said before adding that junior outside hit-

October 20, 2014 | The Pitt News | www.pittnews.com ter Casey Durham, Yeazel and both of the middles [Jenna Potts and Orchard] performed better.

Yeazel said the team made changes on blocking and other technical aspects in the second set, contributing to a Pitt win.

“We started blocking their outside setter [reigning ACC Rookie of the week Kate Federico], which really helped our defense and, ultimately, our offense,” she said.

In the final set, Pitt jumped out to an early 4-1 lead before Clemson stole the lead back. Down 12-9, Fisher used one of his

timeouts to regroup the team. Out of that timeout, Durham logged a kill and senior setter Lindsey Zitzke served two aces to help Pitt regain the lead. The lead never disappeared as the Panthers’ superior hitting led to a match win.

Fisher was pleased with the weekend’s outcome, despite the blocking adjustments and service errors.

“We want to play aggressive volleyball and challenge other teams to beat us,” the second-year head coach said. “We’re doing that for the most part.”

BASKETBALL

Randall sprains ankle during scrimmage

Derrick Randall sprained his left ankle in a collision. | Subhana Chaudhri Staff Photographer

Ryan Bertonaschi Senior Staff Writer Pitt senior center Derrick Randall sprained his left ankle during the first half of Pitt’s Blue-Gold Scrimmage Sunday afternoon at the Petersen Events Center.

While running down the court during a change in possession, Randall collided with point guard James Robinson and fell to the ground, where he lay for several minutes.

After receiving immediate treatment, a trainer and a manager helped Randall off the floor.

Randall sat behind his team’s bench for the remainder of the game with a bag of ice wrapped around his elevated foot. After the final buzzer, he exited the gym on crutches.

There is no timetable for Randall’s recovery. Randall averaged two points and two rebounds last season as a reserve to starting center Talib Zanna. Pitt head coach Jamie Dixon has not announced a starting lineup for this season, but Randall figures to compete with junior centers Joe Uchebo and Tyrone Haughton for playing time off the bench.