Match Stats
No. 9 Stanford squeaks out five set victory over Washington to remain perfect in the Pac-12. Freshman Kathryn Plummer posted a career-best 18 kills and five blocks. Inky Ajanaku contributed 13 kills and six blocks, while Audriana Fitzmorris recorded nine kills and a match-best seven blocks. Defensive Specialist Morgan Hentz picked up 25 digs for the Cardinals.
For the Huskies Crissy Jones posted her career-best 24 kills and six blocks. Courtney Schwan recorded a double-double with 15 kills and 13 digs. Defensively, Shayne McPherson picked up a season-best 24 digs and Tia Scambray added 22 digs with eight kills.
Press Release
Courtesy of Stanford Athletics
SEATTLE – Behind a career-high 18 kills from freshman Kathryn Plummer, the ninth-ranked Stanford women’s volleyball team earned its first win over Washington in Seattle since 2012. The Cardinal moved to 9-2 overall and 3-0 in the Pac-12 with a 21-25, 25-20, 25-21, 17-25, 15-9 victory over the Huskies.
Stanford out hit the seventh-ranked Washington (11-2, 1-2 Pac-12) .243 to .200, held a 90-79 advantage in digs and matched the Huskies with 13.0 blocks.
Plummer had a team-high 18 kills on .268 hitting and five blocks. Redshirt senior Inky Ajanaku totaled 13 kills and six blocks, while freshman middle blocker Audriana Fitzmorris had nine kills, seven blocks and a career-best four digs.
Freshman setter Jenna Gray recorded a career-high 35 assists and 11 digs for her second double-double of the season. Senior setter Kelsey Humphreys also had a double-double with 23 assists and 11 digs. Freshman libero Morgan Hentz racked-up a match-best 25 digs.
Freshman outside hitter Michaela Keefe finished with seven kills and a career-high 17 digs, while redshirt junior Ivana Vanjak added eight kills, seven digs and two blocks. Sophomore defensive specialist finished with a season-high 13 digs, making it five Cardinal players with double-digit digs.
The Cardinal fell behind early in the first set and was unable to overcome its errors. It was just the second time this season Stanford had dropped the first set. After pulling even in the match with a 25-20 win in the second, the Cardinal had to play some serious catch up in the third trailing 17-10. Stanford went on a 15-4 run to close out the set.
After hitting just .100 in the fourth, Stanford came out strong in the fifth never trailing in the set. The Cardinal is now 3-2 in five-set matches this season.
Crissy Jones led Washington with 24 kills, 12 digs and six blocks, while Courtney Schwan added 15 kills and 13 digs. Freshman libero Shayne McPherson had a team-best 24 digs, while Tia Scambray totaled 22 digs.
Stanford wraps-up a six-match road swing on Friday, Sept. 30 at No. 17 Washington State. First serve between the Cardinal and Cougars is set for 7 p.m. on Pac-12 Bay Area and Pac-12 Washington.
Press Release
Courtesy of Washington Athletics
SEATTLE – The Huskies and Cardinal took the three thousand fans in attendance on an official roller coaster ride tonight at Alaska Airlines Arena, with a constant wave of momentum swings back and forth over five sets. In the end, it was ninth-ranked Stanford that outlasted the seventh-ranked Huskies, pulling out a 21-25, 25-20, 25-21, 17-25, 15-9 victory despite a career-high 24 kills from Husky junior Crissy Jones.
The teams traded major runs in nearly every set, as both young Pac-12 squads continue to develop and scrap for every conference win. Stanford (9-2, 3-0 Pac-12) wound up outhitting the Huskies (11-2, 1-2 Pac-12) .243 to .200 overall, and had a slim edge in kills, 65-60, and digs, 90-79. UW matched the NCAA’s leading blocking team with 13 blocks apiece, and served up nine aces compared to four for Stanford, which got its first win in Seattle since 2012.
“Proud but not satisfied is how I would sum it up to everyone in our program,” said Head Coach Keegan Cook. “I thought we represented ourselves incredibly well, but certainly not satisfied with some of the things that we’re doing and how we’re executing. We’re just missing a few plays here and there, that we’re not comfortable with yet, so we’ve got to grow a little bit. We tried some things to create different match-ups, and it worked in the fourth set running the 6-2, but we’re just missing a few plays we need to be able to run on offense.”
After the teams split the first two sets, the Huskies held a 17-10 lead in set three, but Stanford fought all the way back to take that set and put the Huskies in a hole. Washington then fell behind quickly in set four, 1-5, but caught fire once again to roll off 13 of the next 16 points to take command and go on to force set five. But a slow start in the fifth was one deficit UW was unable to rally back from, as UW falls to 2-1 against ranked opponents this year.
Jones was outstanding all night as she converted again and again when the Huskies were in need of a clutch sideout. She went over the 20 kills mark for the second time in her career, passing her previous high of 22 set in the five set win at Hawaii. She hit .299 and added two aces, 12 digs, and six block assists for a career-high 29.0 points.
Senior Courtney Schwan had a double-double with 15 kills and 13 digs, hitting .240. Junior Bailey Tanner served up a career-high four aces to go with 46 assists, and freshman Avie Niece had the best blocking night of her young career with 1 solo and 10 block assists for 11 total rejections. Freshman libero Shayne McPherson had a season-high 24 digs and Tia Scambray also had 22 digs to go with eight kills.
The teams were even through the first six points of the first set. Bajema killed a Stanford overpass off a Scambray serve for a 4-3 Husky lead. A huge stuff block from Tanner and Bajema capped a 4-0 Husky run for a 6-3 lead. A back from kill from Jones on the right made it 8-6 Dawgs, then Tanner floated an ace for a 9-6 lead. Another Jones kill on a Stanford blocking error made it 10-6 and the Cardinal took timeout. Out of the break, Jones tooled the block to keep the Husky push going, and then Avie Niece got into the mix with a quick kill in transition for 12-6. A stuff for Jones and Niece forced Stanford right back into its last timeout with the Dawgs still on their run up 13-6. Niece and Jones kept the block party going with a stuff on Stanford’s next swing as tough Tanner serves kept the Cardinal out of system. The Cardinal finally snapped the 9-0 Husky run and followed with two more before Schwan hammered one down on the right. Schwan and McPherson had a couple tough digs to extend a point and Scambray and Niece teamed for a stuff to end it, making it 17-9. The Cardinal made a 3-0 push to close to 19-13 and the Huskies used their first timeout. Tanner went right to Jones in serve-receive and finished to stop that run. Scambray worked hard in transition to put one away crosscourt, and a Stanford error had the lead back to 22-14. A Stanford service error got the Huskies to set point at 24-18. Stanford saved the first three and the Huskies used their final timeout at 24-21. The Huskies set up Jones in the middle after a perfect pass from McPherson and Jones struck out of the middle for her sixth kill of the set to end Stanford’s rally at 25-21. The Huskies hit .234 in the first set and outblocked the NCAA block leaders, 4-1, holding Stanford to .209.
Tanner snuck one on the Cardinal for her first kill and then Bajema made Stanford pay for a low free ball pass as she jumped up and hit it down for an early 3-2 lead. Schwan smashed one from the left straight to the floor for 5-5. Stanford won a couple long rallies to take the lead, 6-9, but Jones responded with a right side finish. A Jones serve put the Cardinal in trouble and they netted for 9-10. A slide kill from Bajema kept the Huskies within one. Niece and Schwan got the Huskies back level at 12-12 with a stuff on the left pin. The Huskies inched ahead for the first time at 14-13 after Schwan tapped down a Cardinal overpass off a Stanford serve. Jones went high hands for another kill to make it 15-14 Dawgs at the media timeout. Stanford moved up one with an ace that trickled over off the tape, but Jones evened it at 16-16 with a shot to the deep corner. Stanford got a pair to take the lead, 16-18, and the Huskies used their first timeout. Again it was Jones who terminated with authority to get UW back on track out of the break. Stanford’s block got going late in the set and the Cardinal pulled ahead, 18-23, and the Huskies used their final timeout. Stanford missed its next serve but got a kill in serve-receive to get to set point. Schwan saved the first by banging off the block and out, but the Cardinal converted their next chance to take the set, 25-20. The Huskies hit a strong .297 in the set but Stanford was hotter at .389 despite six kills for the second straight set from Jones.
A big stuff from Jones and Niece on the right pin had the third set at 2-2 to start. Another emphatic stuff from Scambray inched the Dawgs out to a 4-2 lead. Jones then tapped down a Cardinal overpass, and a couple points later, a Jones ace made it 7-3 Dawgs. After Scambray finished for 8-4, Stanford took an early timeout. The Huskies had a couple swings at the next point but the Cardinal won it with a block, and then had another ace off the net cord to get back within one before missing serve for 9-7. The Huskies made a couple errors as Stanford pulled ahead, but Schwan re-tied it with a kill to end a long rally for 10-10, and she then roofed the Cardinal to get UW back up one. By far the longest rally of the year changed sides a dozen times before the crowd erupted as Niece finally slammed it down. Jones and Niece then followed that momentum play with a block, and another block on the next rally kept the roar and the Cardinal called time with the Dawgs up 14-10. Washington kept rolling on Tanner’s serve to three more points on an ace, a kill by Jones and a block assist from Jones and Niece to make it 17-10 to finish an 8-0 run that felt quite similar to Tanner’s 9-0 serving run in the first. But the Cardinal wouldn’t go away and rallied as they did in the first set with four straight points to make the Huskies call timeout at 17-14. The Cardinal netted to snap that run, but then came back with two more to make it 18-16 Dawgs. Two more points for Stanford tied things up as the Cardinal were on an 8-1 run to answer UW’s sprint. Jones regained the lead for the Dawgs with a right side swing for 19-18, but Stanford rallied again with two to take the lead at 19-20. Tanner found Jones again to tie it at 20-20. Stanford just painted the sideline and then UW was called for a disputed double to fall behind, 20-22, and need their final timeout. Washington overpassed the next serve and Stanford converted for a three-point lead before Jones got a kill on a Cardinal net error for 21-23. Washington was unable to make a late push, and dropped the set, 21-25, as Stanford finished on a 15-4 run. Jones had seven kills in the set but the Huskies hit just .058 and no other Husky had more than one kill.
The Huskies started slowly in set four and fell behind 1-5 and had to take the early timeout. The 20th kill for Jones got UW out of that rut, but UW served its next into the net. Scambray got a kill off the fingertips for 3-6. Schwan had a standing jump finish out of the back row on a broken play, and a Scambray kill got the Huskies back within one. A tough Jones float led to a Stanford error and then Jones hit out of the back row to put UW up one, 7-6, and Stanford took timeout as the Dawgs were on another 5-0 run. Jones then aced the Cardinal out of the break on a shanked pass for 8-6. Another long rally was ended by Jones out of the back off the block and out for 9-6. Stanford got within a point at 8-9 but then the Dawgs began to assert themselves once again with a 5-0 run on Scambray’s serve. Scambray floated an ace during the run and DeHoog and Schwan collected back-to-back kills for a 14-9 advantage. Again the Cardinal closed the gap to two points at 13-15, but Tanner got back on the service line and the Huskies sprinted ahead again with kills from Schwan and two Tanner aces to break it open again at 21-13. This time the Huskies wouldn’t look back, as they reached set point at 24-15, and then Niece put away a Tanner set in the middle to end it, 25-17. The Huskies had five crucial aces in the set while Schwan got going with five kills.
Washington struggled with its first few passes of the fifth set and dropped the first three points before DeHoog got her hands on a block. Two kills from Schwan, one a roll and one up the line made it 3-5 Cardinal, but the Cardinal answered with a kill and then UW got caught in the net and needed timeout down 3-7. Tanner found Jones in serve-receive out of the break for a hammer for 4-7, and then Schwan hit through the block out of the back row for 5-7, but Stanford answered with a three-point run to double up the Huskies at 5-10 before missing serve. Down 7-12, Tanner dumped for a kill, and then went back to serve. Jones hunted out a big stuff block to get UW back within 9-12 and the Cardinal called time. The Huskies had a free ball chance on the next point but couldn’t convert, and Stanford got a tip to fall to regain momentum. Washington was unable to finish in serve-receive on the next point and Stanford came through to get to match point at 9-14. On the first chance, Stanford again got a dig to earn a transition chance, and they put it away to close out the win, 9-15.
The Huskies will have to shake off the loss in quick fashion, as they finish their only back-to-back matches of the Pac-12 season tomorrow night with California in town for another 7:00 p.m. start time.
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