Killer Instincts: Olivia Babcock

Olivia Babcock: Not really. As a kid, I played everysingle sport available. Once I got tohigh school, my focus was volleyballand soccer—I was doing club soccerand playing volleyball at school. Butwhen COVID hit, high school sportspaused and a friend invited me to avolleyball club tryout. I went for it andthe rest is history.

Suddenly a lot of people were telling me I could have a future in the sport. But since I was just in high school, I was like, that’s probably not true. But after my first year of club, it was pretty apparent that I could havea future in volleyball. So I quit soccer that year and focused on volleyball.And not long after that I wound up getting recruited by Pitt.

A bit of both. It’s natural to think about all the ways I could have done something different, but I intuitively know to flip this switch—like, oh well, I have to move on to the next point because there’s nothing I can do. I try to do the same thing when I make a good play, because if you’re thinking about the past play, you’re not focused on what matters.

A kill is when you attack at the balland get the point. Last year, my team gave me a lot of opportunities and set me up a lot, and I was able to execute and put the ball down. Getting a lot of kills is also about finding solutions—at this level, you’re playing really good teams that study you hard and know what you’re likely to do in every situation so they can put up a good block. So finding ways to put the ball down is really what sets attackers apart.

Absolutely. I think every year we’re getting closer. We definitely have the talent and the mindset to do it. We just need to be aware of our weak spots and work on them. Losing in the semifinals four years in a row is definitely not ideal, but if we can make it to the sem is four times in arow, we definitely can make it to the championship and win it all.

It’s li!tle things. Once you get into a big matches, it’s just about limiting how many points you give to the other team. And it’s also about moving on quick. In a high-stakes game, it’s easy to get caught up ifyou make a mistake. Now I think weall have the mentality to just go get the next point. I can see our progression with that.

Absolutely. You’re going to make mistakes in every day life. Many people think of a mistake as a failure, but you’re going to make mistakes as you try to succeed. And if you frame your mistakes as a failure, then you’renot going to grow. I know that even the most successful people have made multiple mistakes.

We lift every day, especially over the summer—it’s important that we get our bodies to a place where we areable to hold up for multiple games aweek. But as we get into the season,we put a lot of effort into managing load. We play so many games anddon’t want to be completely drainedwhen we get to a big game. Sometimes working really hard for30 minutes is much better than. dragging out a two-hour practice.

Pitt makes it easy. We have anacademic adviser and a bunch of people holding us accountable. Having people holding you accountable and seeing the academic success of your teammates—it motivates me to stay on top of it.We also have a study center, andevery week everyone’s required to get a certain amount of hours doing school work in there. If I’m in my room, I’m probably gonna be napping.

Honestly, it’s a totally different game. The speed is faster. And every country has a different style of play. Once you get to the level, it’s like soccer—if you watch a college game, it looks really fast and frantic, while professional games look comparatively slow and calm. Somehow, the touches look slower, but in reality it’s just a more controlled style of play, and it’s not slower—it’s just that everyone has way more experience.

Absolutely. I plan to play internationally after college. My main goal is the 2028 Olympics.

Oh yeah. I grew up in L.A., and sushi and Italian food are really popular out there. So I ate a lot of those foods growing up. And every time I’m back in California, I guarantee that my first meal is going to be pasta with vodkasauce or sushi. And maybe my second meal. Those are foods I could eat every single day and not get sick of them.

When you serve, you want to be able to do the same thing consistently. You generally want to take the same approach and hit the ball around the same height with the same power. Having a service routine helps merepeat that process every time. I alsotake a deep breath every timebecause I think that’s an importantmental reset. That’s probably themost important part of my routine.