Miami, FL
No. 4 Panthers Drop Top 20 Match to No. 18 Miami Friday Night – Pitt Panthers #H2P
Coral Gables, Fla. – The No. 4 Pitt volleyball team (12-3, 4-1 ACC) dropped a tightly contested five-set match (26-24, 25-14, 22-25, 19-25, 13-15) to No. 18 Miami (15-1, 5-0 ACC) on Friday night in Coral Gables despite a season-high 30 kills from Olivia Babcock. This marks Pitt’s first conference loss since Oct. 12, 2024, against SMU.
Pitt and Miami traded points back and forth in set one until a 4-0 run behind the serve of Babcock forced Miami to call a timeout, down 10-6. Babcock scored the next point on ace to extend the lead, but the Hurricanes narrowed the gap to 13-12, causing Pitt to take a timeout. Miami picked up some momentum, propelling the Hurricanes to a 19-17 lead, and the Panthers called their final timeout. Both teams remained tied multiple times throughout the remainder of the set, but Pitt’s Babcock and Ryla Jones delivered back-to-back blocks at 24-24 to secure the set one victory, 26-24.
The Panthers continued to roll in set two as Miami had no choice but to call an early timeout, down 7-3. Miami gave its best effort to narrow the gap but was unable to as the Hurricanes called their last timeout down 20-11. A pair of Miami errors and three combined kills from Babcock, Bre Kelley and Blaire Bayless gave Pitt the decisive second set, 25-14.
Miami used a 7-1 run early in set three to force the Panthers to take a timeout, trailing 9-6. The Hurricanes held narrow leads in the following stretch, but Pitt didn’t go away and tied things up at 20-20 at the Miami timeout. Outside hitter Flormarie Heredia Colon scored four of the following five points for Miami to extend the match with a 25-22 set three win.
Set four was tied 4-4 until another 7-1 run from the Hurricanes led Pitt to talk things over. The Panthers continued to battle back, but Miami never relinquished the lead and claimed set four, 25-19.
The Hurricanes carried over the momentum from set four into the fifth as the Panthers took a timeout, down 6-3. Babcock and Bayless powered Pitt back into the match and helped tie the score at 11-11, but a 4-2 run in favor of Miami led to the five-set defeat for the Panthers.
NOTES
• Olivia Babcock recorded a season-high 30 kills, marking her third 30+ kill match of her career
• Brooke Mosher registered a match-high 48 assists, her fourth 45+ assist match in five outings
• Bre Kelley added a match-best seven blocks
Miami, FL
This Miami food truck was just named Florida’s top independent restaurant
Apparently, one of the best restaurants in America is parked next to a post office in the Design District.
Taste of R Cuisine (better known to burger obsessives as TRC Burger) has officially been ranked the highest-rated independent restaurant in Florida and the second-highest-rated indie restaurant in the entire country, according to a new Yelp-based study from business lender OnDeck.
The Miami food truck landed at No. 2 nationally with a perfect 5.0 Yelp rating based on 55 reviews, trailing only Los Angeles sushi spot Sonmari, which edged into the top slot with 60 reviews.
To compile the rankings, OnDeck looked at data from nearly 90,000 independently owned restaurants across the U.S., pulling from Yelp’s highest-reviewed and recommended eateries before narrowing the list down to top-rated local spots. Restaurants with fewer than 50 reviews were excluded and ties were broken by review count. Which is all how a humble Miami food truck wound up beating out thousands of restaurants nationwide.
Parked at 95 NE 40th Street in the Design District, Taste of R Cuisine has quietly built a cult following since it launched in 2019. The truck specializes in gourmet burgers, chicken sandwiches, steak plates and house-made lemonades, with everything cooked fresh to order using non-GMO produce and handmade buns.
Its self-described philosophy is simple: fresh ingredients, handcrafted food and nothing frozen. According to the business, the burgers use 100% Angus beef alongside house-made pickles and signature sauces. Reviewers are particularly obsessed with the Everything Burger, truffle fries and lemonades. One Yelp user called it “one of the best burgers in Miami,” while another described the truck as delivering “Michelin-star quality food.”
The truck’s setup is refreshingly unfussy for a place now sitting near the top of a national restaurant ranking. There’s no dramatic tasting menu, no months-long reservation list and no stuffy dining room. Just picnic tables, burgers and an insanely high number of five-star reviews—not bad for a place in a parking lot.
Miami, FL
Nonstop flights from U.S. to Venezuela resume Thursday at Miami International Airport for first time in seven years
Excitement is building at Miami International Airport as American Airlines is set to resume nonstop flights from the United States to Venezuela for the first time in seven years on Thursday morning.
This comes after the U.S. carrier suspended service to the South American country citing diplomatic fallout between the two nations.
The first flight from MIA to Caracas (CSS) is set to depart at 10:15 a.m. and is being operated by Envoy Air, a wholly owned subsidiary of American Airlines, and a second daily flight between MIA and CSS is expected to begin in less than a month on May 21.
The announcement that these flights would resume is a significant step in the normalization of relations between the United States and Venezuela following the January capture of former president Nicolás Maduro.
The flights to Venezuela were halted in 2019 after the U.S. Department of State issued warnings about crime and the detention of American citizens.
Tickets for the inaugural flight on Thursday morning are sold out, and roundtrip tickets for flights in May are priced between $1,500 to $4,000.
Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy made comments about the flights at an industry forum on Wednesday.
“I know that there’s a lot of people in Florida who can’t wait to go back to their homeland,” he said. “To go back to see their families. And they couldn’t make that happen. And by way of the President saying, “No, we’re going to fly back to Venezuela,’ and Robert saying, ‘Well, I want American to fly back to Venezuela,’ the meaning that that has for people, the way that you touch people’s hearts, in a profound way, I think, sometimes we don’t realize.”
A ribbon-cutting ceremony will be held at Miami International Airport before the flight on Thursday morning, with several officials expected to speak about the historic event.
Miami, FL
Braxton Berrios, Bethenny Frankel and more stars hit Gaia Miami’s opening
Dubai has landed in Miami.
Fundamental Hospitality — the UAE-born powerhouse behind hot spots like Shanghai Me, Alaya, and La Maison Ani — quietly previewed its first US outpost in Miami this weekend.
Stars like Bethenny Frankel, Braxton Berrios and Larsa Pippen attended the four-night preview of Gaia Miami last Thursday to Sunday, a source told Page Six.
We’re told partners Evgeny Kuzin and Izu Ani “rolled out the red carpet” for a handpicked group of the coastal-Floridian city’s most influential names for a first look ahead of the official opening later this week.
To kick things off, the Mayor of Miami Beach, Steven Meiner, led a ribbon-cutting ceremony.
“Inside, the scene leaned more private members club than restaurant preview,” the source said.
We’re told couples Kevin and Kate Love and David Lee and Caroline Wozniacki dined alongside NBA icon Pat Riley and NFL standout Jon Vilma.
Claire Holt was seen arriving with her fiancé, developer Andrew Joblon, alongside real estate bigwig Alex Witkoff.
Housewives spotted dining throughout the soft launch included Bethenny Frankel, Kiki Barth, Alexia Nepola and Pippen — who wore an eye-catching gold dress for the occasion.
Frankel even took to Instagram to give a rave review for the restaurant, calling it “the best restaurant in Miami.”
The starry guest list included developer Jorge Perez, Major Food Group co-founders Jeff Zalaznick and Mario Carbone, nightlife mainstay Chris Paciello, branding mogul Steve Stoute and architect Kobi Karp.
Influencer Jonathan “Foodgod” Cheban also dined there and took to social media to share his experience at the new eatery, writing in the caption, “Good luck getting in.”
Some of the city’s biggest business heavyweights were also in tow, including Dave Grutman and his wife Isabela, and Pura Vida founders Omer and Jennifer Horev.
The menu includes fresh Mediterranean dishes like tuna with truffle, tuna tartar with caviar, watermelon salad, Greek salad, baked feta cheese, Greek-style meatballs and lobster pasta.
As for desserts, patrons can indulge in fried Greek doughnuts, Gia cheesecake, filo mille feuilles, coconut cake, the “Dirty Cookie” with toasted hazelnut, pralines and tahiti vanilla ice cream.
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