The No. 6 Stanford women’s volleyball team extended their all-time record against the Oregon State Beavers to 57-0 on Friday, cruising to a sweep, 25-24, 25-25, 25-19.
The Cardinal (15-4, 8-2 Pac-12) also extended its home-winning streak at Maples Pavilion to 24 consecutive matches, dating back to the start of the 2012 season. The Beavers (9-11, 0-9), meanwhile, are still looking for their first conference win this season.
Stanford maintained control throughout the match, outhitting Oregon State .461 to .140. Sophomore outside hitter Jordan Burgess had a team-high 10 kills and hit .364 in the match, while sophomore outside hitter Brittany Howard added eight kills on nine attacks (.889 percentage) along with seven digs. Controlling the offense were the setters, sophomore Madi Bugg and freshman Kelsey Humphreys, who had 33 assists and nine assists respectively during the match.
“We hit at a very high rate, so you have to give your setter – the quarterback — credit when you do that,” said Head Coach John Dunning. “I thought Madi did a great job, making a lot of good choices. Kelsey came in and did a really good job too.”
The shutout also allowed for a distribution of playing time, giving starters a chance to rest before a week of big matchups against No. 4 USC and UCLA and providing playing time for those who hadn’t seen game action in a while. Senior outside hitter Carly Wopat sat out the third set, resting an entire set for the first time since the Sept. 18 match against Cal Poly. Meanwhile, junior outside hitter Lydia Bai, appeared in her first match since Oct. 11, recording a season-high six kills—all in the second set—and hitting .714.
“It was an overall good match for us,” said Wopat. “A lot of people got to play, which was great, and we all did really well. It’s just exciting to see all your teammates playing well and everything working.”
The Card also benefitted from Oregon State attack errors throughout the match. Despite a close start to the first set—in which Oregon State was only down 11-8 after a service ace by junior setter Tayla Woods— Stanford quickly surged ahead, gaining four points off attack errors and widening the gap to 18-8, before a 25-14 first-set win.
The Beavers started the second set with some momentum, up 1-3 early on. They were plagued by attack errors once again, however, surrendering nine points off attack errors and hitting .059 in the set, forced in part by a tall Cardinal front line. Bai led the Cardinal with six kills in the set, as it took a 2-0 lead with a 25-15 win.
Stanford sealed the sweep with a 25-19 win in the third set. The Card didn’t look back after going up 7-2 in the set on a kill by junior libero Kyle Gilbert, her second of the season and the third of her career. After a long get by senior outside hitter Rachel Williams, Gilbert softly bumped the ball over the net on the third hit, finding a hole in the Beaver defense.
With two days off after the Friday win, Stanford will look to carry its momentum into a big week against visiting Southern California teams. The Card takes on No. 4 USC on Wednesday, hoping to take advantage of home court this time around after getting swept in their arena on Oct. 4. The match starts at 7:30 p.m. and will be televised on Pac 12 Networks.
Contact Jordan Wallach at jwallach‘at’stanford.edu