It was a battle of the undefeated on Friday night between No. 1 Stanford and No. 11 Oregon, with both teams coming in with team records of 12-0 and Pac-12 records of 2-0. And in that battle, it was No. 1 Stanford that ultimately consolidated its top ranking and maintained its undefeated winning streak Friday night against the Ducks. However, the four-set match (25-23, 25-16, 17-25, 25-17) demonstrated that Oregon is not an easy team to beat, which is impressive considering that the team has some of the top hitters and passers in the nation.
The first set had shaky beginnings for the Cardinal, which had a week off from games before playing Oregon. However, the monstrous blocking by Inky Ajanaku, Madi Bugg and Jordan Burgess and a stellar back-row attack from Brittany Howard propelled Stanford on a 4-0 run to counter Oregon’s opening 4-1 run. But the set was intense from start to finish, involving three major lead changes and six tie scores, the most of all four sets. At one point, Oregon gained a six-point lead, but the Cardinal refused to give up.
Taking advantage of the aggressive middle blockers and outside hitters led to a tie of 22-22 and then an immediate one-point lead for Stanford. Oregon’s service error brought Stanford to set point and Howard’s block gave Stanford a 1-0 lead in the match.
In the second set, Stanford came back from a slow start in the first set to dominate and control the outcome. The second set displayed a major shift in momentum for the Cardinal in which Ajanaku’s opening point led the team to a successful offensive opening and an early 8-0 run during which the Ducks called two timeouts. Sophomore middle blocker Merete Lutz took advantage of Oregon’s defensive errors with kill after kill from the Ducks’ unintentional overpasses.
The hitters exhibited great control of situations that were not perfect, making transitions much easier for the defense. This set observed many cross-court hits from Burgess, a few strategic kills from Bugg, aggressive front-row performances and a key shift in control of the service game to the Cardinal.
The third set saw Stanford retreating back to its performance from the beginning of the match and taking its first set loss since the match against San Diego in early September. With the serve-receive not going as well as it could have and the passes not effectively reaching the setter all the time, it was difficult to set the middles well enough to get in good hits.
“Oregon is a fairly unique team to play against, very fast movement-oriented, and we didn’t serve very well or pass very well,” said head coach John Dunning. “We’re a very experienced team and we can play not so good just like everybody else, but we can react when it gets bad and that’s what we did.”
The loss of the third set did not keep the Cardinal from striking back with a strong fourth set to get the big victory over Oregon and keep their undefeated streak. The set started off intensely with a massive block from Ajanaku and senior opposite Morgan Boukather that set positive momentum for Stanford, ranging from Bugg’s high and consistent sets to the hitters to Burgess’ success in finding the holes in Oregon’s defense. Lutz’s continuously quick responses and Burgess’ short service ace drove the Cardinal to 10-5 before Oregon called its first timeout.
“We worked on changing the set a bit in the last practices and Madi [Bugg] did a great job setting me,” Burgess said.
The attempts of Oregon to slow down Stanford’s momentum came up short with consecutive post-timeout aces from Burgess and tough kills from Ajanaku, Boukather and Lutz. Howard contributed majorly with her quick reactions to passing errors by Oregon, which pushed Stanford to the set point of the match. Ajanaku’s and Boukather’s block clinched the team’s victory, preserving the Card’s NCAA top rank.
Throughout the match, Lutz continued to prove why she is the highest-ranked hitter in the nation, leading the team with 13 kills and contributing a .591 hitting percentage. This match saw a breakout performance from Burgess, who accomplished her seventh double-double with 12 kills and 10 digs and a career-high four solid aces. In addition, the defense introduced a new regular on the court, freshman defensive specialist Sarah Benjamin, who has proven herself to Dunning in terms of consistency and readiness for the great demand college volleyball entails.
“In the last three or four matches, she played almost flawlessly, so naturally she’s going to be in a lot tonight and probably from now on,” Dunning stated.
This challenging win demonstrates that, even though they are still undefeated, the Cardinal can still improve a lot to reach their full potential throughout the rest of the season.
On Saturday night, Stanford continued its torrid start by downing Oregon State at Maples Pavilion, adding another victory to its so-far breathtaking season with another straight-set sweep. In doing so, the Cardinal improved their record to 14-0 and wrapped up a four-match homestand in preparation for a four-match road trip to Arizona, Arizona State, Colorado and Utah.
The Cardinal will next take on the Arizona Wildcats in Tuscon, Arizona, at 8 p.m. on Friday.
Contact Divine Edem at dedem ‘at’ stanford.edu.