On the heels of its biggest win of the year over No. 3 Washington (24-2, 16-2 Pac-12), Stanford’s women’s volleyball team avoided a letdown against Washington State on Friday with a straight-set victory that marked head coach John Dunning’s 800th career win.
Dunning, who was inducted into the AVCA Hall of Fame in 2011, is just the fourth active coach in Division I women’s volleyball to reach the 800-win milestone. His career record now stands at 800-168 (.826) over 16 seasons at Pacific and 12 seasons at Stanford.
“I must be a lucky person; I never planned on being a coach,” Dunning said. “Somehow I ended up coaching in college and somehow I ended up [at Stanford]. I’ve gotten to work with amazing people and coach so many amazing athletes, some Olympians and some of the most dedicated people that you could ever find. More days now than ever before I just smile and think ‘how lucky am I?’ I love [coaching].”
The No. 5 Cardinal (22-5, 15-3 Pac-12) recorded its 18th sweep of the year over the Cougars (17-13, 4-13 Pac-12), 25-14, 25-15, 26-24. Stanford outhit Washington State .373 to .198, recording its highest attack percentage in a match since Oct. 25 against Oregon State.
Sophomore outside hitter Jordan Burgess had a team-high 13 kills to go with eight digs and finished with a .414 hitting percentage. Senior outside hitter Rachel Williams had double-digit kills for the second consecutive match en route to her team-leading ninth double-double of the season. Williams finished with 11 kills and 11 digs, hitting .435.
Though Cougar freshmen outside hitter Kyra Holt had 13 kills in the match – she entered the weekend ranked seventh in the conference with 3.85 kills per set – no other Cougar had more than nine kills, a microcosm of Washington State’s season as a whole.
Thirteen of Stanford’s 15 players on the roster got playing time in the match, giving starters some rest before the final two games of the season and the upcoming postseason tournament.
The Cardinal will take on Arizona on Wednesday at 5 p.m. in its final road game of the regular season. The team will return to Maples Pavilion on Friday for Senior Night and the final regular-season match of the year against Cal,which will be televised on Pac-12 Networks at 6 p.m.
Contact Jordan Wallach at jwallach ‘at’ stanford.edu.