No. 12 Stanford women’s volleyball (19-7, 13-5 Pac-12) posted an undefeated weekend, taking down both Arizona State (9-20, 2-15) on Friday and Arizona (17-13, 9-9) on Sunday in straight sets to cap off its final road trip of the regular season.
In its game against Arizona State, Stanford captured the season series 2-0 as it recorded another sweep of the Sun Devils.
After trailing early in the first set, a 9-2 run put the Cardinal ahead, and they would not relinquish the lead. Led by .391 hitting and only nine total errors in the match, Stanford’s offense produced impressive results, dominating the second and third sets. Freshman outside hitter Kathryn Plummer led all players with 13 kills for the Cardinal, while fifth-year senior middle blocker Inky Ajanaku, freshman middle blocker Audriana Fitzmorris and senior outside hitter Ivana Vanjak chipped in with eight kills each.
The Cardinal defense also outmatched Arizona State, out-blocking the Sun Devils 11 to 4 and out-digging them 43 to 34.
Riding the momentum from Friday’s game, the Cardinal were firing on all cylinders in Sunday’s match, a rematch that tied the season series with Arizona 1-1. Plummer earned her team-best eighth double-double of the year as she racked up 15 kills and 10 digs in the game. Freshman setter Jenna Gray led the offense to a .263 attack percentage with her 39 assists.
Stanford took advantage of 23 Wildcat hitting errors, especially in the first and third sets, to claim the win. A close second set had Arizona leading by as many as five points, but the Cardinal were able to come back to capture that set 25-23 and cruise in the third to sweep.
On the defensive end, the team held Arizona to a .121 attack percentage. Freshman libero Morgan Hentz delivered a particularly strong defensive effort, recording 21 digs, her most in a three-set match. Hentz has been a consistent performer this season, earning double-digit digs in all 26 games.
The Cardinal now return to Maples Pavilion for the final week of the regular season. Home games against conference opponents No. 19 Oregon and Cal will be important in determining seed placement for the NCAA tournament in December. Stanford currently sits third in the Pac-12 behind Washington and UCLA and one game ahead of Oregon.
Stanford will face Oregon this Wednesday at 7 p.m. The final game of the regular season will be against Cal on Friday at 5 p.m. Both matches will be available on Pac-12 Network.
Contact Laura Anderson at lauraand ‘at’ stanford.edu.