Match Results
- #2 Stanford def. Washington State 3-0, (25-22, 25-18, 25-14)
- Stanford improves to 17-2, 10-0 Pac-12, Washington State falls to 13-9, 2-8 Pac-12
- Stanford, California
- Attendance: 3,651
- Match Stats
#2 Stanford remains unbeaten in Pac-12 play with a sweep over Washington State. This is the first match of the season that the Cougars have been swept while Stanford has swept 13 opponents this season.
The start of the first set was a back and forth battle between the two squads with the Cougars picking up a 17-13 lead over the Cardinals. The lead did not last long as Stanford fought their way back, tying things at 22 all. Three straight Stanford points on a block from Audriana Fitzmorris/Merete Lutz, a Morgan Hentz ace and Meghan McClure kill finished the set 25-22.
Stanford took a small two-point lead over the Cougars for most of the beginning parts of the second set until they pulled away with a 19-13 lead. The Cardinals continued to push through the second set but McClure ended things once again for Stanford with a kill at 25-18 to go up 2-0 in the match.
The final set was a blow out for the Cardinals as they jumped out to a 10-3 lead early. This lead only continued to grow to 23-13 until a Tami Alade and Lutz kill concluded the match 25-14.
Kathryn Plummer posted 10 kills in the win along with five digs and two blocks while Lutz recorded nine kills. Hentz picked up a match-best 17 digs.
For Washington State, Taylor Mims put down a match-best 18 kills while setter Penny Tusa nearly recorded a double-double with 13 assists and nine digs.
Press Release
Courtesy of Stanford Athletics
In a complete team effort, the No. 2 Stanford women’s volleyball team swept Washington State, Saturday, at Maples Pavilion.
The Cardinal (17-2) is 10-0 at the halfway point of the Pac-12 conference season, and has won 12 straight. Washington State (13-9) fell to 2-8 in the Pac-12. Stanford sits alone in first place in the conference.
Stanford was well-balanced offensively all night, hitting .299 as a team. Washington State was limited to a .137 attack percentage, committing 20 hitting errors.
Sophomore outside hitter Kathryn Plummer led the team with 10 kills and five digs, while redshirt senior Merete Lutz added nine kills and three blocks. Freshman outside hitter Meghan McClure chipped in with eight kills and five digs.
Sophomore libero Morgan Hentz tallied a match-high 17 digs to go with two aces. Sophomore setter Jenna Grayposted 35 assists, four digs, two aces, two kills and two blocks.
Washington State hung with the Cardinal in the first set, leading 20-18 down the stretch. Stanford went on a 7-2 run, including a kill and a block by Lutz, to complete the come-from-behind win in the set.
Junior middle blocker Tami Alade hit .462 (7-1-13) and had four blocks, while sophomore Audriana Fitzmorristurned in a .455 attack percentage (6-1-11) and also recorded four blocks.
Stanford turned up the defense in the second and third sets, holding Washington State to .200 and -.054 attack percentages, respectively. The Cardinal is now 59-4 all-time against the Cougars.
Junior Taylor Mims led Washington State with 18 kills on .286 hitting, while senior Casey Schoenlein added eight kills. Freshman setter Penny Tusa (13 assists) was one digs shy of a double-double for the Cougars.
Stanford hits the road next week to begin the second half of conference play at Arizona State on Friday and Arizona on Sunday. Both matches will be televised on Pac-12 Network.
Press Release
Courtesy of Washington State Athletics
The Washington State volleyball team (13-9 overall, 2-8 in Pac-12) lost 25-22, 25-18, 25-14 to the defending national champions, No. 2 Stanford (17-2, 10-0), Saturday night at Maples Pavilion.
Taylor Mims led the Cougars with 18 kills (.286) and had five digs, one block and WSU’s lone ace. Casey Schoenlein added eight kills and one block. Penny Tusa had 13 assists and led the Cougars with nine digs. Ashley Brown had 12 assists. Claire Martin and Ella Lajos were two of three players with four blocks in the match. Martin’s blocks moves her into sixth place on the WSU all-time career block assists list with 339.
The Cougars came out ready to play and battled the Cardinal to 13 tie scores and six lead changes in the opening set.
Stanford had 42 kills on the night and hit .299 while WSU had 33 kills and were held to a .137 team hitting percentage. Stanford served six aces to WSU’s one but both squads committed six service errors. The Cardinal barely edged the Cougs in digs, 38-37, and is only the second team this season to out-block WSU, 8.0 to 6.5.
WHY & HOW…
WSU Head Coach Jen Greeny said, “I think we served pretty tough that first set, we blocked okay, our defense was good but Taylor Mims was really good in that first set. I thought we were doing a good job and then they picked up their serving and our passing fell off the table. It’s hard to run much of an offense with the passing numbers that we had tonight bur Stanford is an unbelievable team; they have a lot of skills so credit to them but we have to be able to do more with those not great passes.”
On what Coach Greeny takes away from the first half of the Pac-12 season she said, “We have played everybody but Arizona State and I think this team is learning we have to be more consistent and not let those silly errors and silly mistakes affect us. We can be right there with all of these teams if we clean up those things. It is hard when you have injuries and people are playing different positions but that’s what you have to do; you have to step up and find a good combination that works. Maybe it’s back to the drawing board a bit and putting some other people in different positions so we’ll see what happens in the second half of the Pac-12 season.”
NOTES…
- WSU has an 8-1 record in three-set matches; this was the first sweep of WSU this year (22 matches played).
- Junior Claire Martin is gaining on her coach’s career block assists tally; Martin’s 339 is sixth and Jennifer Stinson (Greeny) is fourth on the all-time list with 360.
- Attendance: 3,651
MARK YOUR CALENDAR…
Washington State (13-9 overall, 2-8 in Pac-12) returns to Bohler Gym to host No. 13 UCLA (13-6, 6-4) Fri., Oct. 27 at 8 p.m., and No. 19 USC (14-6, 6-3 pending 10/22 vs No. 12 Utah).
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