With a sweep of Boise State (26-7) on Saturday, sixth-seeded Stanford women’s volleyball (23-7) advances to the Sweet 16 of the NCAA Tournament and will travel to Madison, Wisconsin, to take on Florida State (26-5) on Friday with the possibility of advancing to Saturday’s quarterfinals.
The team was paced offensively by 17 kills from freshman phenom Kathryn Plummer, while fifth-year senior middle blocker Inky Ajanaku hit over .500 for the second consecutive match. Stanford’s 25-11, 25-22, 25-18 victory snapped the Broncos’ 15-match win streak and marked the Cardinal’s NCAA-record 111th Tournament win.
Stanford jumped out to a quick lead in the first set and never looked back, holding the Broncos to just 11 points on .079 hitting. The second set was closer, but still the Cardinal never relinquished the lead, holding off a late Boise State rally on their way to a set win.
The Broncos took their first lead of the match in the third set, jumping ahead 5-3. However, Stanford retaliated, taking the next eight points in a row with six kills and two Boise State attack errors. While the teams traded points for much of the remainder of the set, the damage was done for the Broncos, and Stanford came away with a ticket to its 13th NCAA Regional appearance under head coach John Dunning.
Up next, the Cardinal will face off against Florida State, which reached the Sweet 16 with an upset win over No. 11-seed Florida. Should Stanford win, it will advance and take on the winner of Wisconsin-Ohio State in the quarterfinal round. First serve against the Seminoles will take place at 1:30 p.m. on Friday. The match will be streamed live on GoStanford.com.
Contact Olivia Hummer at ohummer ‘at’ stanford.edu.