Women’s volleyball completes sweep of Washington schools

Oct. 26, 2015, 1:55 a.m.

After defeating the No. 4 Washington Huskies on Wednesday, the No. 11 Stanford women’s volleyball team (13-5, 7-3 Pac-12) continued its home-court dominance with a 25-20, 25-20, 25-19 sweep of the Washington State Cougars (14-7, 3-6) Friday evening at Maples Pavilion.

Senior outside hitter Brittany Howard led the Cardinal with 12 kills, with junior middle blocker Merete Lutz in a close second with 10. The Cougars were missing junior outside hitter Kyra Holt due to injury but kept the scores close throughout, with freshman outside hitter McKenna Woodford putting up a dominant performance, notching a career-high 18 kills.

Stanford got off to a strong start in the first set, and although the Cougars fought hard, the Cardinal trailed only twice, winning the set 25-20 on a pair of kills from seniors Jordan Burgess and Lutz. Despite leading the Pac-12 in aces, Washington State struggled on the serve, conceding 5 points on service errors.

The teams began the second set neck and neck, but the Cardinal went on a 7-3 run to go up 22-17, their biggest lead of the set. Stanford’s offense was largely propelled by Burgess, who had 6 of the team’s 18 kills. Although the score remained relatively close, Stanford went on to win the set 25-20, hitting .452 to the Cougars’ .273.

In the third set, Washington State pushed back, leading four times and using its strong block to hold Stanford to a .243 hitting percentage. However, the Cougars’ attack struggled, as they hit only .022, and the Cardinal went on a 15-9 run to take the set 25-19.

The Cardinal improve to a home record of 204-19 under head coach John Dunning and continue their home stand on Wednesday night at 7:30 p.m. as they take on the No. 13 Arizona State Sun Devils. The game will be broadcasted live on Pac-12 Networks.

Contact Olivia Hummer at ohummer ‘at’ stanford.edu.

Olivia Hummer '17 is a managing editor of The Daily's sports section and writes about volleyball, football and baseball. When she's not filling in as an emergency copy editor, she can be found curled up in a ball bemoaning the misfortunes of her beloved Seattle Mariners or cursing the misuse of the Stanford Athletics logo. Olivia is a senior majoring in history from Covina, California, and can be reached at ohummer 'at' stanford.edu.

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