On Friday night, No. 11 Stanford women’s volleyball (8-2, 2-0 Pac-12) headed north to take on Oregon State (7-6, 0-2). The Cardinal extended their road win streak, downing the Beavers in three sets and improving to a 64-0 all-time record against Oregon State.
The first set proved Stanford’s biggest challenge of the night, as it came down to a final score of 29-27 and featured eight tie scores. For much of the set, the Cardinal were playing catch-up after the Beavers jumped out to an 11-6 lead by capitalizing on Stanford errors. The Cardinal briefly regained the lead at 21-20, but Oregon State continued to tie it up, pushing the set to extra points. Freshman Kathryn Plummer and fifth-year senior Inky Ajanaku had two kills apiece in the final points of the game, and senior Ivana Vanjak finished it off with her third kill of the set.
After the first-set win, the Cardinal settled down, finishing off the sweep on cruise control. Stanford won the next set 25-18, taking a quick 6-0 lead and never looking back. The Beavers were plagued by errors, hitting just .024 in the set. The Cardinal managed an even more convincing victory in the third, keying in for a 25-8 win. The Beavers hit -.069 in the set and recorded just 4 kills.
As a whole, Stanford outhit Oregon State .339 to .070. Plummer led the squad once again with 12 kills, and Ajanaku was hot on her heels with 11. Plummer’s .667 hitting percentage was a career high. Freshman Michaela Keefe matched her career high with 13 digs, and libero Morgan Hentz paced the team with 16 digs, including one which made it over the net for a kill.
Overall, Stanford saw 14 different players take the court, and sophomore middle blocker Courtney Bowen made her collegiate debut and recorded a block.
Up next, Stanford will fly farther north to take on No. 4 Washington this Wednesday and Washington State this Friday.
The Cardinal had mixed results against the perennially strong Washington Huskies last season. The first time the teams met last year, Stanford pulled off a five-set upset in Maples Pavilion, but the Cardinal were not so lucky when the teams met in Seattle in November. This year’s Stanford team has shown flashes of brilliance and the offense seems to have hit its stride, but it will take an extra effort for the Cardinal to take down the hard-hitting Huskies.
Both matches will be broadcast on Pac-12 Networks with first serve at 7 p.m.
Contact Olivia Hummer at ohummer ‘at’ stanford.edu.