@thepittnews Vol. 105 Issue 76 Friday, November 21, 2014 Pittnews.com Ning Jan, bioengineering, graduate student, performs in front of judges at the Global Ties talent show. Nate Smith | Staff Photographer PITT’S GOT TALENT Very little of what students learn in the classroom may apply to real-life campaigning, at least according to Pitt political science professor Wil- liam Dunn. Dunn is one of this year’s Nation- al Academy of Public Administration (NAPA) fellows and a former policy analyst and speechwriter for Ronald Reagan’s gubernatorial campaign in 1966. While his time spent on the campaign was a great professional experience, he recognized that he wanted to apply his political science education to other endeavors. “In this case, I discovered how little of political science theory and research could be applied in political campaigns, particularly one driven by an ideology I did not personally support,” Dunn said. NAPA, a Washington, D.C., non- profit organization that advises gov- ernment organizations to improve public management, inducted Dunn and his fellow Pitt professor John T. S. Keeler last Thursday as fellows. Dunn is a professor of public and international affairs, Keeler is the Dean of the Graduate School of Pub- lic and International Affairs. Pitt faculty honored nationwide Lauren Wilson For The Pitt News Sarita Brady, a genderqueer person, feels restricted in daily life. Brady only feels comfortable at the Rainbow Alliance office and chooses to use gender-neutral bath- rooms. “It means that I feel compart- mentalized as a queer and gender- queer person,” Brady, a freshman, said. There is at least one single-user, gender-neutral bathroom in 33 out of 74 buildings on the campus map, and most of those 33 buildings con- tain two or more. Despite not feeling completely comfortable in Pittsburgh, Brady, Rainbow Alliance’s communica- tions chair, said the city is slowly improving the quality of life for LGBTQ people. The improvements show in a new ranking by the Human Rights Campaign’s 2014 municipal equal- ity index (MEI), which grades cities based on how well they support LG- BTQ rights. In the report, which was released Nov. 14, Pittsburgh ranked as the second-best city in the state, behind Philadelphia. The Human Rights Campaign scored Pittsburgh a 90 out of 100, a 25 percent increase from last year’s score of 72 points. The average city score was 59 points, with 25 per- cent of cities scoring more than 80 points. The MEI bases its ratings on 47 criteria that fall under six main cat- A Pittsburgh ranks second in state for LGBTQ friendliness Meagan Hart Staff Writer Fellows 3 LGBTQ 2 Showing up big Showing up big Panthers blow out Panthers blow out Wolverines for their Wolverines for their second win of the year second win of the year page 8 page 8 Heather Tennant | Staff Photographer
Transcript
@thepittnews
Vol. 105Issue 76
Friday, November 21, 2014Pittnews.com
Ning Jan, bioengineering, graduate student, performs in front of judges at the Global Ties talent show. Nate Smith | Staff Photographer
PITT’S GOT TALENT
Very little of what students learn in the classroom may apply to real-life campaigning, at least according to Pitt political science professor Wil-liam Dunn.
Dunn is one of this year’s Nation-al Academy of Public Administration (NAPA) fellows and a former policy analyst and speechwriter for Ronald
Reagan’s gubernatorial campaign in 1966. While his time spent on the campaign was a great professional experience, he recognized that he wanted to apply his political science education to other endeavors.
“In this case, I discovered how little of political science theory and research could be applied in political campaigns, particularly one driven by an ideology I did not personally support,” Dunn said.
NAPA, a Washington, D.C., non-profi t organization that advises gov-ernment organizations to improve public management, inducted Dunn and his fellow Pitt professor John T. S. Keeler last Thursday as fellows. Dunn is a professor of public and international a! airs, Keeler is the Dean of the Graduate School of Pub-lic and International A! airs.
Pitt faculty honored nationwideLauren Wilson
For The Pitt News
Sarita Brady, a genderqueer person, feels restricted in daily life.
Brady only feels comfortable at the Rainbow Alliance o" ce and chooses to use gender-neutral bath-rooms.
“It means that I feel compart-mentalized as a queer and gender-queer person,” Brady, a freshman, said.
There is at least one single-user, gender-neutral bathroom in 33 out of 74 buildings on the campus map, and most of those 33 buildings con-tain two or more.
Despite not feeling completely comfortable in Pittsburgh, Brady, Rainbow Alliance’s communica-tions chair, said the city is slowly
improving the quality of life for LGBTQ people.
The improvements show in a new ranking by the Human Rights Campaign’s 2014 municipal equal-ity index (MEI), which grades cities based on how well they support LG-BTQ rights. In the report, which was released Nov. 14, Pittsburgh ranked as the second-best city in the state, behind Philadelphia.
The Human Rights Campaign scored Pittsburgh a 90 out of 100, a 25 percent increase from last year’s score of 72 points. The average city score was 59 points, with 25 per-cent of cities scoring more than 80 points.
The MEI bases its ratings on 47 criteria that fall under six main cat-
A!!"#$Pittsburgh ranks second in state
for LGBTQ friendlinessMeagan Hart Staff Writer
Fellows 3
LGBTQ 2
Showing up bigShowing up bigPanthers blow out Panthers blow out
Wolverines for their Wolverines for their second win of the yearsecond win of the year
page 8page 8
Heather Tennant | Staff Photographer
2 November 21 | The Pitt News | www.pittnews.com
egories: non-discrimination laws, relation-ship recognition, municipal employment laws, municipal leadership on matters of equality, law enforcement and inclusiveness of city services. New to this year’s criteria, cities are now required to include transgen-der-inclusive healthcare coverage to get a perfect score.
Representatives from the Human Rights Campaign did not respond to multiple re-quests for comment via phone and email.
Christine Bryan, director of mar-keting and development for the Delta Foundation of Pittsburgh, said she is pleased about the results, despite not taking fi rst place. The Delta Founda-tion is an organization that focuses on producing change in the LGBTQ community in Pittsburgh.
“That is something to be proud of,” Bryan said.
Pittsburgh lost 13 points in the “Munici-pality as Employer” section for its lack of transgender-inclusive healthcare benefi ts,
a city contractor non-discrimination ordi-nance and anti-discrimination protections in city employment.
It lost three points in the “Municipal Services” section for a lack of anti-bullying policies and eight
points in the “Law Enforce-ment” section for lack of an LGBTQ police liaison or task force. Pittsburgh gained 14 bonus points for providing services to LGBTQ youth, elderly, homeless and those living with HIV/AIDS.
In contrast, Philadelphia did not lose any points and gained 16 bonus points, although scores were not able to exceed
100. Philadelphia is one of only 38 cities out of the 358 rated that got a perfect score.
“It starts with the government,” Bryan said. “Mayor Peduto and [Philadelphia Mayor Michael Nutter] are both very supportive of the LGBTQ commu-
nity. People are continuing to get more and more comfortable with themselves.”
But there are still areas to improve, Bryan said, such as creating statewide anti-discrim-ination laws in Pennsylvania.
Marc Reed, community outreach chair of Pitt’s Rainbow Alliance, said the equality index is fairly accurate.
“On the law aspect, the LGBTQIA com-munity is making strides in equality,” Reed, a freshman, said.
What is true on paper, Reed said, is not always refl ective of reality.
“Laws are much easier to change than society,” Reed said. “Pittsburgh is doing an excellent job in the political aspect of support-ing equality, but we have to focus more on unlearning problematic mindsets and edu-cate ourselves about the struggles of others.”
Brady said while Pittsburgh is advanced when it comes to equality movements, there is a cultural clash between the progressive city cultures and the more conservative and religious Midwestern cultures.
“It makes for a strange dynamic of be-ing able to talk about your partner with strangers, but, in the same day, someone will scream slurs at you while you walk down
the street hand-in-hand with someone of a similar gender,” Brady said in an email.
According to Brady, one way to help sup-port the LGBTQ community is to question language and gender roles. People shouldn’t assume that gender is binary, Brady said, or assume that just because people have certain genitals doesn’t mean that they identify with the gender associated with those genitals. He pointed out the stereotypes that society assigns to certain genders, such as men not showing emotion and women being sub-missive.
“In reality, those aren’t learned patterns of biology and behavior at all but ridiculous beliefs that we developed rather recently,” Brady said.
Brady said while Pittsburgh has the re-sources to support equality, there is still a lot of progress ahead.
“If people are looking to relocate here, I think [LGBTQ equality] is a factor that people take into account,” Brady said. “They want to go to places that are welcome and there are events, bars, restaurants and a thriving community. Pittsburgh is fi nally getting rec-ognized for what it is — we want everyone to be treated equally.”
T P NS U DO K U
Today’s di! culty level: MediumPuzzles by Dailysudoku.com
Aby Briner | Staff Illustrator
LGBTQFROM PAGE 1
3November 21, 2014 | The Pitt News | www.pittnews.com
“It is very gratifying to receive recognition of my research and professional service from such a distinguished organization,” Keeler said. “It also makes me feel fortunate to have worked with great colleagues without whom most of what I have achieved would not have been possible.”
Dunn said the induction is an “exceptional honor.”
Lisa Trahan, the Director of Fellow Rela-tions at the NAPA, said there are 800 fellows nominated and elected each year by congress-people, state and local government adminis-trators and other academic scholars for their “substantial scholarly contributions in public administration.”
Keeler, an undergraduate alumnus of the University of Southern California who re-ceived his doctorate in political science from Harvard University, has been the Dean of Pitt’s Graduate School of International A! airs since 2007. He is a specialist of transatlantic rela-tions, comparative policy public policy and European politics.
Before coming to Pitt in 2007, he was a political science professor at the University of Washington in Seattle and served as Direc-tor of the Center for West European Studies and the European Union Center of Excellence while there.
Keeler also won the American Political Sci-ence Association’s Gabriel A. Almond Award in 1979 and the University of Washington’s Distinguished Teaching Award in 1992.
Keeler’s research involves conducting data analysis and interviewing foreign policymak-ers.
“In retrospect, I made a very prudent choice of specialization, because conduct-ing such research has allowed me to interact
with fascinating people while also spending months in Paris, the French countryside (when I worked on agricultural policy), Lon-don, Oxford and other wonderful places,” Keeler said in an email.
Dunn has been a professor at Pitt since 1969. He teaches public and international a! airs and has published several works on United States public policy.
Dunn’s motivation to apply research to policy solutions, he said, stems partly from his time spent as a research assistant to former member of the U.S. Foreign Service, Fred War-ner Neal, who studied international econom-ics, international relations theory and diplo-matic history, and then linked these theories
to foreign policy. Dunn said his time spent in the Peace Corps also inspired his career path.
“I have tried to transmit this spirit of public service to students and faculty, whose self-perception as social scientists sometimes fails to recognize that the social sciences sustain themselves by bringing theories, methods and data to bear on practical problems,” Dunn said.
Dunn said from his observation, much of the reading assigned in courses is “not easily or successfully linked to practice.”
Pitt’s Graduate School of Public and In-ternational A! airs has two other academy fellows on faculty: Professor Carolyn Ban, elected in 1997, and Professor Louise Comfort, elected in 2006.
Both fellow-elects said they are committed to making a di! erence in government and public policy.
“In my view, what connects theory and practice is the ethos of public service. This ethos is of special importance to the National Academy of Public Administration, which is an important balance to misleading and false views about what government does, how it does it and what di! erence it makes,” Dunn said.
FELLOWSFROM PAGE 3
William Dunn and John Keeler were honored last week. | Photo courtesy of William Dunn
4 November 21 | The Pitt News | www.pittnews.com
OPINIONS
Casual FridaysEDITORIALEDITORIAL
I’m made of plastic; it’s fantastic
The formerly blond, disproportion-ately thin Barbie has undergone a make-over. Er, well, let’s just say that there’s more realistic version of her now. The new dolls are known as “Normal Bar-bies,” or, “Lammily dolls,” named after their designer, Nickolay Lamm. She’s a brunette, has the body proportions of the average woman and even comes with stickers that can give her acne, cel-lulite and stretch marks. Lamm, told The Hu! ngton Post that the idea was to give dolls a “real treatment” because “Things like acne, stretch marks and cellulite are a natural part of who we are.” To make things even more realistic, “Normal Bar-bie” also comes with a plastic surgeon action fi gure.
Groundhog dayA New Hampshire man had an alter-
cation with a groundhog on Wednesday that ended in bloodshed. In recounting
the incident to his local news station, Gary McGrath asserted that he was work-ing in his garage when the groundhog charged him. He tried to push him away with his foot to no avail — the groundhog refused to stop terrorizing him and his garage. McGrath promptly called animal control while seeking refuge in his truck. When the animal control o! cer came, he put the groundhog down. Naturally, the forest community is outraged that the groundhog was executed before receiv-ing his due process.
#GamerAteOne of the biggest problems for
gamers is hunger — they simply can-not pause the game to go make a pizza. Fortunately, Xbox One has found a solu-tion to this conundrum. Whilst playing, gamers can now just yell, “feed me” at their Xbox One and the system will or-der a pie from nearest Dominos. As a result, Microsoft predicts that hangry rage quits will drop dramatically in the coming months.
Dylan Fisher | Staff Cartoonist
They camp outside in tents, bundled up for the freezing temperatures outside. They wait, meticulously counting down the seconds until the doors open. And, fi nally, after hours of waiting, they bust through, pointing credit cards like weap-ons at the clerks.
They’re Black Friday shoppers, and they’re an interesting breed.
It’s not so much the shoppers them-selves that are seemingly nuts — it’s the businesses that fuel Black Friday. Tradi-tionally, businesses open on midnight the Friday following Thanksgiving. This year, however, a handful of businesses are set to open on Thursday — Thanksgiving Day. Namely, Walmart, Target, Macy’s, Kohl’s, JCPenney and Toys“R”Us.
These companies maintain a com-mon mantra: Holiday season is the time to meet sales goals for the year. “Black Friday” derives its namesake from this concept. No, not because it’s pitch dark outside at 3 a.m. when you leave to shop, but because businesses go from being “in the red” to “in the black.” Being “in the red,” means that businesses are not yet profi table, while being “in the black” means the businesses surpassed the break-even point.
For instance, prior to the holiday sea-son, Toys“R”Us is typically in the red. Shopping fl ourishes during November and December because of the holidays, so this is when they conjure between 42 and 43 percent of their annual sales. It’s at this point that they enter the black and become profi table.
Many companies are following a simi-lar pattern, and some are getting espe-cially anxious. Take Target, for example. In 2013, the store opened at 8 p.m. This year, the chain plans to open at 6 p.m. on Thanksgiving. Eventually Thanksgiv-ing Day will be devoted to shopping, as
well — benefi ting businesses even more.But what about the customers, or even
the employees?The truth is, companies want to open
earlier just so that they have a better chance of pushing out their inventory. If stock is still piled up by early December, the company will drive prices down to deplete its inventory. So, if consumers waited to buy things until early December, companies would be forced into giving lower prices.
Still, some consumers will always love Black Friday. They don’t fi nd it nuts to wait in line. This is rational because it is a form of price discrimination — the best deals are given to the most desper-ate customers.
Essentially, stores are willing to give you a lower price at a cost — your time. This is simple opportunity cost analysis. For some, getting a TV for $100 o" is worth 10 hours of waiting in line.
In reality, though, giving up your time is more benefi cial for the business — Black Friday is just another ploy to get people in the store.
As experts in retail ergonomics will tell you, it’s all about generating foot tra! c in the store. Retailers know that you think there will be great sales on everything when, in reality, there are a few good sales and the rest is fodder.
Sales fl oors are arranged according to this concept. Counterclockwise foot traf-fi c results in increased spending because companies know you tend to enter the store and move to the right as you shop.
Imagine you are entering a department store with a central entrance. Typically, you would feel inclined to start walking to your right to shop, circling around until you eventually reach the left.
Consider the way in which you are reading this sentence — you are mov-ing your eyes toward the right side of the
Black Friday or Black ! ursday? A Sales Façade
Courtney Linder Columnist
COLUMNCOLUMN
Linder 5
5November 21, 2014 | The Pitt News | www.pittnews.com
ACROSS1 Greenhouse
growth6 Condescending
one10 Take wing13 Andrea __:
sunken oceanliner
14 “So I was wrong!”15 Actor Stephen16 *Mark of a
hothead18 “A mouse!”19 Remain fresh20 North African port
city22 Regret one’s 32-
Acrosses25 Cavs, on
scoreboards26 Blurt out27 Figure skating
jump28 NYC airport
named for amayor
30 One of twomatching beds
32 Admission in aconfessional
33 Hotelier Helmsley35 Lady’s title38 *“This space
available,” in aPennysaver box
41 Peddles42 Fight mementos43 Crunched
muscles44 Dog who reveals
the Wizard46 Netherlands
airline47 Those, to Pedro48 Procedure: Abbr.49 Stamp sellers,
briefly51 Ancient scrolls53 Takes over, like
termites55 Menu item56 Baseball’s “Iron
Man” Ripken57 Foot-operated
mechanism on amotorcycle, andwhat the firstword in eachanswer to astarred clue canbe
page from the left. This is why department stores, like Ma-cy’s, usually have a square path, so that you may follow a counterclockwise pathway easily.
Naturally, the few good sales will be hidden behind the average mer-chandise, which will be more ex-pensive and usually put at eye level and to your right.
So, is all of the deceit and wasted time worth it? The employees, especially, would probably say no, considering they are really the ones forced to squander their holiday
for Black Friday.Some consumers have opened
their eyes to this distasteful prac-tice. In response to merchandise
giants like Macy’s and Target open-ing on Thanksgiving this year,
over 391,000 consumers signed a petition on
Change.org to ask retailers to refrain
from opening on Thanksgiving.
Even if this peti-tion fails, there are other alternatives to consider when
s h o p p i n g this holiday season.
R a t h e r than spoiling
whatever is left to the sanctity
of Thanksgiving — not to men-
tion breaking the bank — why not
put more empha-sis on Cyber Mon-day, Black Friday’s techy cousin?
Cyber Monday
began in 2005 and has been a great al-ternative for those shoppers who want to have time with their family on Thanks-giving and want to avoid crazy lines. The sales results prove it — in 2013, Cyber Monday sales were up 31.5 percent from Black Friday’s numbers.
Waiting to shop until the Monday af-ter Thanksgiving has not hurt the retail economy. In an age of technology, we should be using this convenience to make our lives easier. We can utilize Cyber Mon-day so that employees can stay home with their families on Thanksgiving rather than stand, miserable, behind a register.
In addition, we need to recognize that Black Friday — and now Black Thurs-day — is not benefi cial for the average consumer.
So, we should support petitions that want to eradicate the practice of opening stores on Thanksgiving Day. This would benefi t workers and save our wallets from being tricked into the Black Friday façade.
We need to ask ourselves if we really want to work for companies that exploit us for the sake of sales.
7November 21, 2014 | The Pitt News | www.pittnews.com
8 November 21 | The Pitt News | www.pittnews.com
SPORTS
With the end of the season near, the goal is clear for the Pitt football team.
Mired in its longest losing streak since 2007, a trip to the ACC conference game is mathematically no longer possible for Pitt (4-6, 2-4 ACC), following last week’s loss to UNC. Instead, there’s a familiar number — six — signifying bowl eligi-bility and, also, in a personal sense, the team’s regular season win total the last two years, in reach.
“But you gotta win fi ve fi rst,” sopho-more running back James Conner said.
Syracuse, Pitt’s opponent on Saturday at Heinz Field, already knows it can’t make a bowl game.
It’s known as much since a Nov. 8 loss to Duke, which made it impossible for the Orange (3-7, 1-5 ACC) to fi nish the season having won at least half of its games — a requirement for postseason eligibility.
But just because that’s true doesn’t mean that the players are approaching Saturday’s visit unmotivated, according to Syracuse freshman quarterback A.J. Long.
“If we can spoil somebody’s season, then great, let’s do it,” Long said.
The last two meetings between the former Big East schools have been low-scoring and close. Pitt clinched its bowl eligibility with a 17-16 victory last year, while Syracuse won 14-13 the season be-fore.
Given this recent history, Pitt head coach Paul Chryst has a sense of what the keys to success for his team will be, citing Pitt’s o! ensive line and blockers against Syracuse’s defensive line.
Pitt set to play Syracuse
with bowl berth on line
Jasper Wilson Senior Staff Writer
FOOTBALLFOOTBALL
What a di! erence a week can make.Behind a strong defensive showing and
senior point guard Brianna Kiesel’s o! ensive performance, the Pitt women’s basketball team defeated the Michigan Wolverines 85-64 in dominating fashion at the Petersen Events Center, improving its record to 2-1 on the season.
Pitt has looked much more e! ective on both sides of the basketball since its loss to Princeton on opening day last Friday.
To stray from the norm, head coach Su-zie McConnell-Serio started three freshmen for the fi rst time this season — Aysia Bugg, Yacine Diop and Stasha Carey — and she may have found a starting lineup that can be more e! ective.
Pitt was able to share the ball on o! ense and play stingy defense, which made every-thing easier for the team down the stretch.
“O! ensively, with 25 assists on 30 fi eld goals, that’s something, as a coach, that you’re very proud of, because you’re letting the o! ense work and your players are making the extra pass,” McConnell-Serio said. “Then, defensively, being able to force 20 turnovers ... I’m just very proud of the way we executed on both ends of the fl oor tonight.”
The Panthers started the game o! tough, forcing Michigan to turn the ball over 12 times, which resulted in them winning the points o! turnovers margin in the game, 31-12.
Pitt’s scoring was e" cient, too.The Panthers shot more than 50 percent
from the fi eld on their way to setting a new school record for 3-point fi eld goals in a game with 13. Their 43 points at halftime, which were good enough for a 15-point lead, equaled their total from the Princeton loss last Friday.
“What we saw tonight was what we ex-pected from our players in being able to score the basketball,” McConnell-Serio said. “We had seen it all preseason. We had seen it in practice. We have multiple players that can score, so Friday was very frustrating, because
we know what we’re capable of.”The new-look Panthers may have found
a special one-two combination in freshman forward Carey and Kiesel.
In the fi rst half, Carey had her game roll-ing.
Following up on her double-double in the
Niagara contest, Carey fi nished the fi rst half with a stat line of 12 points on a perfect 5-5 shooting against Michigan, accompanied by fi ve boards and one assist.
If Carey’s play through the fi rst two games
Barrage of 3-pointers leads Pitt past MichiganKevin Wheeler
Staff Writer
WOMEN’S BASKETBALLWOMEN’S BASKETBALL
Forward Monica Wignot contributed nine points and eight rebounds to Pitt’s win over Michigan. Heather Tennant | Staff Photographer
W Hoops 10Football 10
9November 21, 2014 | The Pitt News | www.pittnews.com
Friday night’s match means a lot to Kate Yeazel. It’ll be the last time the opposite — along with teammates Delaney Cle-sen, Jessica Wynn, Lindsey Zitzke and Mechael Guess — will wear a Pitt jersey at the Fitzgerald Field House.
“It’s defi nitely crazy. It’s such a cliche, but your four years go so fast,” Yeazel said. “I don’t think it has actually sunk in yet.”
Head coach Dan Fisher said the seniors “deserve to be recognized,” especially af-ter what they have done in the two years with him coaching the team. The Panthers went from having a 119 RPI in 2012 to improving 37 spots in that category last season. Pitt currently ranks 54th in the nation.
“Now we’re on the verge of making the tournament, and I think they have a big part of that,” Fisher said. “Hopefully it will be a decent crowd and a special day
for them.”When the Panthers (21-6, 9-5 ACC) take
the court Friday at 7 p.m. to honor their fi ve senior players, the team won’t just be trying to win for them, but also to return to its winning ways. Pitt has struggled against its last two opponents, winning only one of seven sets in those losses.
“We’re just trying to get back into the swing of things and get the bases down,” junior middle hitter Amanda Orchard said.
Yeazel also said the team concentrated on fundamentals this week.
“We’re really focusing on some of the things that have been weaker like our pass game, things like defensive intensity and our blocking,” Yeazel said.
She added that the blocking game has improved over the past few practices.
North Carolina StateThe Wolfpack (14-12, 3-11 ACC) enter
Friday night having lost two straight and 11 of 13 matches. Working in Pitt’s favor is that its opponent has managed to win only
once on the road, holding a 1-7 record.One of the Wolfpack’s players that has
caught Fisher’s eye is freshman Kaitlyn Ke-arney, who continues to evolve as a leader as the season progresses.
“Something that is unique right now is that their leading kills per set player is a middle [blocker]. They’re fi nding a way to get a middle 2.75 kills per set,” Fisher said. “We’re going to have to do a good job against her.”
After reviewing tape, Fisher and his sta! noticed patterns in NC State’s rota-tions, and have spent practices preparing the team to defend those rotations. On top of defending Kearney, Fisher said NC State’s ball control is an area of concern.
“I think their ball control is decent, so we’re going to have to have a good serving game as well,” he said.
VirginiaThe Panthers make a quick turnaround
this weekend when they travel to Virginia to play the Cavaliers Sunday at 1 p.m.
Virginia (15-12, 8-6 ACC) is only one spot behind Pitt in the ACC rankings and has an 8-2 home record. But the Cavaliers have been streaky all season long. Enter-ing its match Friday night, Virginia has lost three in a row, but, prior to that, it won four ACC matches.
Setter Lauren Fuller leads the Cavaliers with 10.64 assists per set, which also ranks her third in the conference. The junior is one of fi ve Virginia players to tally more than 20 service aces — the team leader is senior outside hitter Tori Janowski with 33. Virginia’s serving can be problematic for the Panthers, who struggled to defend serves in their last match against Virginia Tech.
Fisher and his sta! remain concerned about Pitt’s upcoming stretch of matches, which includes four matches in eight days.
“We are going pretty short right now,” he said.
Seniors take home court for last time on Friday nightCaitlin Hinsey
Staff Writer
VOLLEYBALLVOLLEYBALL
Volleyball 10
10 November 21 | The Pitt News | www.pittnews.com
E S T A B L I S H E D 1 9 1 0
Editorial PoliciesSingle copies of The Pitt News are free and available at newsstands around
campus. Additional copies can be purchased with permission of the editor in chief for $.50 each.
Opinions expressed herein are not necessarily those of the students, faculty or University administration. Opinions expressed in columns, car-toons and letters are not necessarily those of The Pitt News. Any letter in-tended for publication must be addressed to the editor, be no more than 250 words and include the writer’s name, phone number and University a!liation, if any. Letters may be sent via e-mail to [email protected]. The Pitt News reserves the right to edit any and all letters. In the event of multiple replies to an issue, The Pitt News may print one letter that represents the majority of responses. Unsigned editorials are a majority opinion of the Editorial Board, listed to the left.
The Pitt News is an independent, student-written and student-managed newspaper for the Oakland campus of the University of Pittsburgh. It is pub-lished Monday through Friday during the regular school year and Wednesdays during the summer.
Complaints concerning coverage by The Pitt News, after first being brought to the editors, may be referred to the Community Relations Com-mittee, Pitt News Advisory Board, c/o student media adviser, 435 William Pitt Union, University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, Pa. 15260.
The editor in chief has the final authority on editorial matters and cannot be censored, according to state and federal law. The editor in chief is selected by the Pitt News Advisory Board, which includes University sta", fac-ulty and students, as well as journalism professionals. The business and edito-rial o!ces of The Pitt News are located at 434 William Pitt Union, University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, Pa. 15260.
Copy Sta!Sarah Choflet
Anjuli Das Kinley Gillette Johanna HelbaEmily Maccia
Pitt managed just 21 team rushing yards versus the Orange last year and 27 in 2012.
The visitors’ ability to contain Conner — averaging 156 run yards a game — will be key for keeping this year’s contest close. They enter this week with the fi fth-best rushing defense in the conference, holding opponents to 127 yards on average, and have only allowed six rushing touchdowns all season.
Other than stopping the run, the team has done fairly well defensively, ranking eighth in scoring defense and sixth in total defense in the conference.
O" ensively, the Orange don’t do much well. They rank second to last in total of-fense and touchdowns scored. Conner alone has scored more than the entire Orange team. Redshirt senior running back Prince-Tyson Gulley averages fi ve yards a carry
and 58 yards a game but hasn’t reached the end zone. Receiver Jarrod West averages 66 yards a contest but also hasn’t scored a touchdown.
Some of these attacking struggles might correlate with the team’s inconsistency at quarterback. Redshirt junior Terrel Hunt started the season before fracturing a fi bula in early October. He has not played since the injury.
Long has played in four games since then, throwing for 727 yards and four touchdowns.
However, he didn’t play against Duke. Austin Wilson and Mitch Kimble split those duties, throwing a combined 105 yards and no scores. The starting position appeared open.
Speaking Wednesday on the weekly ACC coaches teleconference, head coach Scott Shafer didn’t reveal who will begin this weekend’s game.
“It’s a secret, I couldn’t tell you. If I did tell you I’d have to kill you, and I wouldn’t
want to do that,” Shafer said.With the implications of the game
against Syracuse known, Pitt quarterback Chad Voytik says, to players, there’s no need to address what’s at stake.
“We all know what we have in front of us, so you really shouldn’t have to say any-thing,” Voytik said. “And I know that might not sound like the right thing to say from a leadership role, but there’s just not much you need to say in this situation. You know what you have to do.”
Redshirt senior right guard Matt Ro-theram, who, along with 10 other seniors, will play his last home game in a Pitt uni-form this weekend, hasn’t found it hard to fi nd motivation.
“Look ahead to the next week. Try to get these wins,” Rotheram said. “You keep fi ghting through and try to earn ourselves a chance to play one more game.”
The last time Pitt failed to make the post-season was 2007.
Kicko" is at 3:30 p.m.
FOOTBALLFROM PAGE 8
Fisher added that the long season is wearing the team down physically. That includes the foot injury to outside hitter Wynn, who has missed the last four games and possibly may be out for the season.
“We’re pretty concerned with keep-ing people fresh and making sure we get enough sleep,” he said.
Despite that, the goal of making the NCAA Tournament remains the focus for the team.
“As a sta" and a team, we are pretty focused on just our mental state and how we play really hard,” Fisher said. Pitt’s seniors play their last home game Friday. Jeff Ahearn | Assistant Visual Editor
VOLLEYBALLFROM PAGE 9
– in which she averaged 13 points and 13.5 rebounds per game – didn’t already show the Panthers the breadth of her length and physi-cality on both sides of the ball, then it became clearer after the win over the Wolverines.
Carey fi nished the game with 14 points on 6-7 shooting and nine rebounds.
After fi nishing Monday’s game against Niagara without converting a fi eld goal, Kiesel put on an o" ensive showcase in the second half.
Kiesel came out of the locker room on fi re, dropping 16 points on 5-9 shooting.
Three of those fi ve fi eld goals came from beyond the 3-point arc and contributed to Pitt’s 13 total 3-point fi eld goals in the contest. Kiesel ended the game with 27 points to lead all scorers.
“I think Brianna Kiesel set the tone to-night,” McConnell-Serio said. “She made the game easy for everyone else tonight being able to knock down shots and fi nd a rhythm, being a playmaker. She was just impressive tonight, and her teammates fed o" of that.”
Kiesel’s o" ense wasn’t what stuck out to her, though.
“Our defense defi nitely created our of-fense,” Kiesel said. “When they weren’t shooting the ball well, we were able to get a rebound, outlet and push it. That was a really pivotal point in the game.”
The win is arguably the biggest of Kiesel’s Pitt career, and, for her, this year is only get-ting started.
“As a team, I defi nitely think this is a huge confi dence boost for us,” Kiesel said. “I think getting this win going into James Madison is going to get the ball rolling for us.”
Pitt next faces the James Madison Dukes on Sunday in Harrisonburg, Va., at 2 p.m.
