The college volleyball season is now moving toward the Race for the Roses. The 64 teams have landed the opportunity to enter the NCAA volleyball championship bracket. Among those, a few have entered the contest with the help of automatic qualification. Notably, the table topper, the Pittsburgh Panthers, had the same cushion. With a 29-1, 19-1 ACC record, Olivia Babcock’s squad has emerged to be the leader in the top left quarter of Region 1. On December 6, the Panthers will have the option to host its opening game in the national championship against Morehead State on its home turf. Such an advantage before the mega contest! But do you know who remained a vital cog behind this achievement? 

Yes, Olivia Babcock. The 6’4” sophomore has become a revered name in the Panthers. Because of her sensational season, she has also clinched the laurel of ACC Player of the Year. But what are those numbers that have lifted her to such a prominent position? What about her development as a player as well? Well, here are the answers to all questions regarding her. 

Learn about Olivia Babcock’s parents and twin sister

Born on June 28, 2005, Olivia Babcock’s early years were spent in Los Angeles. She had her schooling in Sierra Canyon in Los Angeles, California. And in the same school, her spark in the volleyball arena had been spotted once. Well, she has a twin sister, Natalie. Away from the demands of the sisterhood, her childhood was not marked by fatigue. Rather, she found her knack in soccer a boring affair after a few times. Yes, Olivia Babcock started her romance with sports through soccer once. But it didn’t last long. She started to find the continuous running chasing the ball something out of the book. Yet Olivia had to remain stuck to the sport because her father, Dave Babcock, wouldn’t allow her to change the stream. In this turmoil, she even advanced to college soccer. But that was only.

Rather, with time, Olivia started to embrace the sport that she had been playing since her fourth grade. And to anyone’s surprise, she chose volleyball in her sophomore year at Sierra Canyon. On the other hand, at the same time, her club soccer stint was in full swing. But sailing two parallel boats had never been her forte. She had to choose only one sport, and she was desperate to enter college volleyball. This desperation led her to tell her father, “If we really want to see how far this goes, we have to do club.” Would those words be enough to convince her soccer-loving father? In the meantime, deep inside of her, she said, “Dad, everyone is saying I have a future in this.” In such a story, there always remains an external agent to settle the direction.

In Olivia Babcock’s story, she had her personal coach, Randy Sapoznik, motivating her to shift her course. Finally, things fell into place for her, and Olivia Babcock earned the chance to follow her dream. Since then, there has been no looking behind. 

Major career highlights and achievements of the Pittsburgh volleyball star

In November 2022, Olivia Babcock signed up for the Pittsburgh Panthers. At the time of joining, her name found entries in the top list of websites as the prospect for 2023. Vballrecruiter.com gave her 5 stars. PrepDig.com kept her on no. 27. But do you know about her achievement that led those websites to keep her name among the top prospects? Her performance in Sierra Canyon. 

In the 2022 season, Olivia’s performance earned her the title of Division Player of the Year and her team, the Trailblazers, the CIF Southern Section Division 1. But what special did she perform? She ended the season with 539 kills with 4.6 kills per set. As an outside hitter, she also marked 65 aces and 114 blocks. In the championship match, she stepped in with the Midas touch and claimed 22 kills. The best among her teammates! In the Pittsburgh Panthers, the California native continued the same show.

In her debut season for the Panthers, Olivia Babcock competed in all 34 games as the right-side outside hitter. And among those matches, she earned the double-digit kills in 22 matches. This high-octane performance made her the frontrunner in the chart. How? She ended her season with 420 kills and 51 aces. She reigned the chart of Panthers in her freshman year! Above all, she earned the exact start of her collegiate career that she needed. 

In the 2024 season, Olivia Babcock has had a phenomenal run. Her 0.69 aces per set have made her second in the country. The 5.87 points per set has earned her fourth place. But that’s not all. Her 4.54 kills per set and 1.75 digs per set have made her someone in the top leagues of the ACC. However, the best one came against Miami. 

On November 17, Olivia scored 20 kills, 5 aces, 3 digs, and 3 blocks. Her hitting percentage remained at 0.531. With three aces, she broke Lindsey Zitzke’s record of having the most number of aces (53) in a single season in Pittsburgh. Expectedly, the list of accomplishments has been coming to her bag in big numbers in this timeline. 

The monumental accomplishments of all the fireworks 

In her freshman year in Pittsburgh, Olivia Babcock collected several accolades. There are the following: 

All-ACC Freshman Team, 

All-ACC First Team, 

ACC Freshman of the Year, 

AVCA All-East Coast Region Team, 

AVCA East Coast Region Freshman of the Year, 

AVCA First Team All-American and 

AVCA National Freshman of the Year.

She was also named ACC Offensive Player of the Week and AVCA National Player of the Week. The laurels followed her for her effort in a sweep of the then-ranked No. 8 Georgia Tech in 2023. The achievement marked the third time she has received the honor in her career. This season, she extended the fun.

In her sophomore year, Olivia Babcock has earned two AVCA National Player of the Week honors. She also advanced to the semifinal round of the AVCA Division 1 Player of the Year with teammates Rachel Fairbanks and Torrey Stafford. 

Olivia Babcock earns the ACC award along with Dan Fisher

On November 30, the Pittsburgh Panthers earned the 2024 ACC Championship title, defeating No. 19 Georgia Tech by a 3-2 set point. Since then, a lot of laurels have followed the road of Pittsburgh. First, HC Dan Fisher has grabbed the 2024 ACC Coach of the Year award title. He led the team to keep a standout number (29-1) in the season. In such a moment, you can’t miss Olivia Babcock. She eventually won the ACC Player of the Year award. Surprisingly, in Panthers’ history, she is the second player (after Kayla Lund) to win the title. However, Babcock’s job isn’t over yet. She has the responsibility to make the team cross the NCAA juggernaut. She may not feel any issues in the job, as she knows how to settle for multiple hats. How? 

A phenomenal elite career 

Besides her academic accomplishments for the Panthers, Olivia has represented the United States at the global level. Her capacity to compete and garner success against the best global rivals had been put to the test in this role. However, she passed with flying colors. How? She was part of the team that secured gold at the 2023 Girls U19 Pan American Cup. In 2024, she continued to represent her nation, earning a silver medal in the NORCECA Women’s Pan American Cup Final Six.

While disclosing her fall for volleyball, Olivia Babcock proudly mentioned, “But then when I started playing volleyball, I was like, ‘Oh, wait. I want to be in the gym. I want to get better.’” She seems in no mood to leave the field without achieving something. On this topic, she once added, “As selfish as this is, I love the spotlight.” Therefore, on December 6, her fans can expect to see her taking the powerful stride again to win the title that has remained away from her reach.