No. 13 Stanford women’s volleyball (16-6, 10-4 Pac-12) defeated Colorado (12-11, 4-9) and No. 19 Utah (17-8, 8-6) on the road this Friday and Saturday, bringing its win streak to five and placing the Cardinal in a three-way tie with UCLA and Washington for first place in the Pac-12. Stanford has swept four of its last five matches, and with six games left, the team will seek to maintain momentum as it closes out its regular season slate.
Stellar play from freshman outside hitter Kathryn Plummer, freshman middle blocker Audriana Fitzmorris and fifth-year senior middle blocker Inky Ajanaku paced the Cardinal in both matchups.
In particular, Plummer put up an impressive showing against the Buffaloes, leading all players with a career-high 20 kills. Freshman setter Jenna Gray also registered a career high, controlling the offense with 44 assists.
Although Stanford failed to sweep Colorado, the Cardinal were able to outhit the Buffaloes .203 to .150 and tallied 55 kills to Colorado’s 44.
While Colorado took the first two points of the match and jumped out to a 5-4 lead, Stanford quickly battled back, notching seven straight points to gain control of the set. The Cardinal were able to maintain their lead to take the first set 25-19.
Stanford kept rolling through the second set, defeating Colorado 25-16, but the Cardinal hit a snag in the third set, as their attack percentage dropped to just .097 while the Buffaloes’ soared to .407. Stanford reclaimed momentum in the fourth to take the match with a final line of 25-19, 25-16, 14-25, 25-20 and moved into a tie for first place in the conference.
On Saturday, the Cardinal maintained their first-place tie as they swept the Utes 25-22, 25-20, 25-16. Plummer once again paced the squad, tallying 19 kills and 10 digs for her team-leading sixth double-double. While they recorded fewer total kills, Ajanaku and Fitzmorris were remarkably accurate, hitting .500 and .438, respectively.
Stanford was slow out of the gates and the teams were neck-and-neck for much of the first set, but the Cardinal were able to pull ahead thanks to some costly attack errors by the Utes. The second set was nearly as close, and the score was tied at 19 apiece before the Cardinal turned a 7-1 run into a set win. In the third, the Cardinal finally found their groove, jumping out to a 12-6 lead. Stanford was able to hold the Utes at bay to cap its fourth sweep in five games.
Up next, Stanford will play host to No. 25 USC on Thursday at 7:30 p.m. and No. 9 UCLA on Saturday at 7 p.m. Last time the Cardinal faced these teams in a weekend, they split the series, but with a five-game win streak at their heels and home-court advantage, the Cardinal will look to maintain their place at the top of the conference standings. Thursday’s matchup with the Trojans will be televised on ESPNU.
Contact Olivia Hummer at ohummer ‘at’ stanford.edu.