Stanford Wins 17th Straight with Road Sweep of USC

  0 Wendy Mayer | October 27th, 2018 | College - Women's Indoor, News, Pac 12

Stanford def. USC 3-0 (25-19, 25-19, 29-27)

Stanford increased its lead atop the Pac-12 standings with a road sweep of USC on Friday night behind an efficient .373 hitting effort.

The win, which marked the 17th straight for the Cardinal, moved the team to 19-1, 11-0 Pac-12 and finished off a season sweep of the Trojans, extending Stanford’s win streak in the series to six matches and overall dominance in the all-time series to 65-26-1.

Stanford outdid USC in every way, outhitting the Trojans .373 to .172 and besting them in kills (48-36), aces (6-2) and blocks (8-4.5).

Audriana Fitzmorris and Kathryn Plummer paced the Cardinal with 14 and 12 kills respectively. Holly Campbell added seven putaways and four blocks, while hitting .636 (7-0-11). Jenna Gray, Tami Alade and Fitzmorris each turned in three blocks. Gray also served up a team-leading three aces.

Brooke Botkin downed 10 kills on a .088 hitting effort to lead USC. Jasmine Gross and Khalia Lanier followed with nine kills apiece. Gross hit at a team-bets .692 clip, while Lanier managed just a .037 effort (9-8-27). Madison Murtagh led the team at the net with three blocks.

The Cardinal hit .519 in the opening stanza, while holding USC to a .038 effort. The teams split the first 12 points before Stanford pulled away with a 6-1 run, including two Plummer putaways. The Trojans never recovered as Stanford held at least a four-point edge the rest of the way. Facing set point, USC managed three points in a row, before a service error wrapped up the 25-19 win.

The teams were level at 10 in Set 2, before Stanford put together a 54-0 run, including a kill and a block by Plummer and Fitzmorris. USC was within three at 20-17, but the Cardinal finished off the set on a 5-2 run, featuring two Gray aces, and clinched by a pair of Trojan miscues.

Stanford led by as many as four in Set 3 at 11-7, but USC came charging back with a 9-2 run, to go up 15-13. Four Cardinal errors and kills by four different players guided the rally. Stanford knotted it up at 16 but soon faced a three point deficit at 22-19. Two Fitzmorris kills and two Trojan hitting errors put the Cardinal back on top at 23-22. USC answered with two points to earn the first of two set-point tries at 24-23. After thwarting another attempt at 25-24, Stanford notched five of the final seven points, winning the match on their third match-point try. After a tie at 27, it was a service error and a Fitzmorris putaway that ended the night.

Next up, Stanford plays UCLA on Sunday to wrap up a four-match road trip, while USC plays host to Cal on Sunday.

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About Wendy Mayer

Wendy Mayer

Wendy Mayer has worked in athletics media relations for the last 20 years. The Northwest Missouri State alumna is currently senior writer for Volleymob.com after spending the last 15 years with Purdue athletics.

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