Turning the Page
A new era of Stanford beach volleyball began in September with the hiring of Andrew Fuller as the program’s third head coach. Fuller, a native of nearby Mountain View, California, and a 2006 graduate of Virginia Tech, previously served as an assistant coach for USC from 2012-15. In addition, he also serves as a coach for the United States Beach Volleyball National Team, working closely with his wife, Lauren Fendrick, who competed in the 2016 Olympic Games and later won the AVP Championship in the fall.
Fuller is an instructor and cadre member of the USA Beach Volleyball Coaching Accreditation Program, as well as an active coach and evaluator for the USA Volleyball High Performance program.
Meet the Freshmen
Stanford welcomed nine new faces to the roster for 2017 – three “beach-only” players, and six members of Stanford’s 2016 NCAA championship-winning indoor program. For the second straight season, Stanford had no “true” seniors on the roster, making it one of the youngest programs in the country.
1 • Kat Anderson • 5-9 • Everett, Wash. • Kamiak
2 • Chelsea Red-Horse Mohl • 5-10 • Huntington Beach, Calif. • Huntington Beach
4 • Shannon Richardson • 5-8 • Los Gatos, Calif. • Harker
14 • Jenna Gray • 6-1 • Shawnee, Kan. • St. James Academy
20 • Caitlin Keefe • 5-11 • Pacific Palisades, Calif. • Marymount
22 • Audriana Fitzmorris • 6-6 • Overland Park, Kan. • St. James Academy
23 • Kathryn Plummer • 6-6 • Aliso Viejo, Calif. • Aliso Niguel
45 • Morgan Hentz • 5-9 • Lakeside Park, Ky. • Notre Dame Academy
50 • Michaela Keefe • 6-2 • Pacific Palisades, Calif. • Marymount
BeachBlog
Sophomore Payton Chang wrote weekly blogs throughout the season, covering team activities on and off the court, as well as conducting interviews of fellow players and staff.
Part 1 • Part 2 • Part 3 • Part 4 • Part 5 • Part 6 • Part 7 •Part 8 • Part 9
Walsh Jennings Returns
Former Stanford standout and four-time Olympic medalist Kerri Walsh Jennings returned to The Farm for Stanford’sApril 11 matchup against California. Prior to the dual, Jaquish and Kenninger Director of Athletics Bernard Muir joined Walsh Jennings for a special ceremony on. The main court was named in honor of Walsh Jennings, a four-time All-American at Stanford who helped deliver indoor national championships to Stanford in 1996 and 1997. With Walsh Jennings looking on, Stanford delivered a 3-2 win over the rival Golden Bears. +
Record-Setting Season
Stanford registered a program-record 13 wins in 2017, improving from a 5-12 clip in 2016. Additionally, Ivana Vanjak won her 35th career match at the Pac-12 Championships, cementing her place atop Stanford’s individual all-time wins list by 10. Vanjak and partner Chang won 15 matches on the season, the most ever by a pair in any single season – Kathryn Plummer and Jenna Gray, Morgan Hentz and Caitlin Keefe, and Courtney Bowen and Kat Anderson each won 13 matches as a pair, tied for second all-time.
Pac-12 Championships
Stanford began the Pac-12 Conference Championships with a 5-0 loss to Arizona State, but rebounded with a 5-0 win against Utah in the contenders bracket of the double-elimination tournament. The Cardinal again faced elimination against No. 8 Arizona, with the dual coming down to the final set in the No. 4 match. The Wildcats edged Stanford, 3-2, ending the Cardinal’s season. Stanford’s win against Utah gave it a program-record 13th win on the season.
Stanford’s top two pairs of Plummer/ Gray and Vanjak/ Chang were also entered in the Pac-12 Pairs Championship. Vanjak and Chang exited in the first round, 2-0, but Plummer and Gray won two matches to earn a berth in the semifinals. They dropped a three-set thriller to end their run, but not before recording Stanford’s first-ever wins in the pairs competition.
Plummer Honored by Pac-12
Plummer was named Pac-12 Beach Volleyball Freshman of the Year and All-Pac-12 First Team.
Playing every match of the season at the No. 1 spot with fellow freshman Gray, Plummer competed in the Pac-12 Pairs Championship. Plummer and Gray won their first two matches, earning a trip to the semifinals, but lost a narrow three-setter for a spot in the final. In addition to freshman of the year, Plummer also earned spots on the all-conference first team and all-freshman team.
The only freshman to make the All-Pac-12 first team, Plummer earned AVCA National Freshman of the Year, AVCA First-Team All-America, All-Pac-12 first team and Pac-12 Freshman of the Year honors with Stanford’s national championship-winning indoor team in the fall.
Full Marks
Five members of Stanford’s beach volleyball program were named to the Pac-12 All-Academic teams.
Sophomores Bowen and Jennifer DiSanto led the Cardinal with second-team honors in their first seasons of eligibility for the all-academic teams. Chang, junior Catherine Raquel and Vanjak also earned recognition with honorable mentions.
It was the second consecutive all-academic selection for Vanjak and Raquel, while all student-athletes eligible for the all-academic teams have earned at least an honorable mention in each of the past two years.
Volleyball news courtesy of Stanford Athletics.
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