No. 6 Stanford women’s volleyball (11-5, 5-3 Pac-12) saw mixed results this past weekend during a conference road trip that included games against Utah (7-12, 1-7) and Colorado (12-8, 4-4). After rolling over Utah in a straight-sets victory (25-20, 25-16, 25-21), the Cardinal suffered a tough four-set loss to Colorado (25-23, 27-25, 23-25, 25-21), the team’s third loss in seven games.
The game against Utah was not only the team’s sole win of the weekend but also a historic day for the program: Senior outside hitter Brittany Howard recorded her 1,000th career dig, becoming the 17th player in Cardinal history to do so. She is also Stanford’s 10th player to have reached 1,000 career digs and kills.
The team executed strong and consistent play over all three sets against Utah. While the Cardinal got off to an early lead in the first set and eventually saw Utah come back to tie it at 13, the Utes could not regain their footing and secure the lead. Stanford quickly stepped up its play and began to pull away with the help of aggressive attacks from freshman outside hitter Hayley Hodson, Howard and junior middle blocker Merete Lutz. Winning repeated back-to-back exchanges, the team refused to allow Utah to gain any momentum in the first and second sets, the latter of which Stanford won even more handily (by nine points).
In the third set, Utah briefly seemed to catch on to the Cardinal’s playing strategies, turning the tables on Stanford and forcing the team to call a timeout after it won five points in a row to gain a 10-9 lead over Stanford. While the score remained within one or two points and was eventually tied at 18, the Cardinal would go on to win seven of the next 10 points to win the set and complete the sweep.
Hodson led the team with an impressive 10 kills, while Howard, Lutz and senior outside hitter Jordan Burgess were close behind, with a solid 8 kills apiece and hitting percentages of .238, .294 and .333, respectively. Senior setter Madi Bugg continued her strong play with 2 service aces, a .500 hitting percentage and 29 digs.
The Sunday afternoon match against Colorado proved a much tougher playing environment for Stanford. In the first set, the start mirrored previous matches, with both teams going point-for-point during the tightly contested first minutes. Stanford initially managed to take a leap forward with a five-point run before Colorado called its first timeout, after which the team would win 15 of the next 25 points — including the last two after a 23-23 deadlock — to win the first set.
The Cardinal fought their way back from a 6-3 deficit to tie the second set at 9 — thanks to a kill and three blocks, all of which junior outside hitter Ivana Vanjak either hit or was involved with — and eventually jumped out to a 15-12 lead off a kill by Howard. Stanford in fact held the lead into the final points of the set, but six of the final eight points went in favor of Colorado, which would win the set.
In the third set, Stanford managed to bounce back from a two-set deficit to win and keep itself in the match. Like previous sets, the start remained tight between the two teams, with neither team earning more than a two-point lead. Though Colorado threatened to end the match, tying the score at 20 and then winning the next point to get a one-point lead, Stanford won five of the final seven points of the set, which the team won off a kill from Lutz, to keep itself alive and extend the match into a fourth set.
Colorado would go on to regain control of the court and win the fourth set and the match. Stanford and Colorado stayed within distance of each other until Colorado broke away to go on a 4-0 run, forcing Stanford to call the first timeout of the set. After the break, kills from Hodson and Howard brought Stanford back in the game, but Colorado would maintain a lead of at least two points over Stanford throughout the rest of the set to win the match.
In the end, Hodson again led the team in kills with 22, tying her career high, and a .326 hitting percentage. Mirroring Friday night’s Utah match, Howard and Lutz followed close behind with 15 and 13 kills, respectively. Bugg nearly doubled her number of digs compared to her performance at Utah, with an extraordinary 56 digs.
Stanford volleyball will return home this week to face off against Washington and Washington State in Maples Pavilion. The matches will be live-streamed on Pac-12 Networks and Stanford Live Stream at 7:30 p.m. and 7:00 p.m., respectively.
Contact Divine Edem at dedem ‘at’ stanford.edu.