After almost a month of challenging preseason matches, a monumental victory over the reigning national champion and an undefeated record, the No. 1 Stanford women’s volleyball team looks to carry its non-conference success into the Pac-10 season, which will commence this weekend.
“Preseason showed us that we are starting from a very solid foundation, but we still have a lot of potential for improvement,” said senior All-American setter and opposite Cassidy Lichtman. “We definitely are going to be a great team, but we want to stay focused so [that] we get better every week.”
The Cardinal (9-0) will kick off its regular season away from home, facing Arizona State (5-7) on Friday, followed by a match against Arizona (10-2) on Sunday.
The Sun Devils, who were picked eighth in a Pac-10 preseason coaches’ poll, have seen mixed results in their early matches. They split their previous two matches, both of which went to five sets, with a win over Pacific and a loss to Utah.
Arizona State will look to three-time All-Pac-10 Honorable Mention recipient Sarah Reaves for leadership and dominant all-around play. Reaves, an outside hitter, currently leads the squad in kills with 195 and trails only senior libero Sarah Johnson in digs with 116 (Johnson currently has 182 digs and an average of 4.55 digs per set, the second highest in the Pac-10).
Other major contributors for the Sun Devils include junior setter Cat Highmark, who has tallied 436 assists and a team-high 11 aces thus far, and sophomore outside hitter Ashley Kastl, who follows Reaves with 115 kills.
Arizona, predicted by the coaches to finish fourth in the conference, finished the 2009 season with a 19-11 overall record, a handful of upset victories over ranked opponents and its first NCAA Tournament appearance in four years. With a core group of four returning starters returning from last year’s squad, the Wildcats were ranked 18th in the American Volleyball Coaches Association (AVCA) Preseason Poll, but have subsequently fallen out of the top 25 with preseason losses to Cal Poly and Pacific.
Most recently, however, the Wildcats are riding a five-match hot streak, including three straight sweeps to win the Arizona Invitational in Tucson last Saturday. Senior outside hitter Tiffany Owens was named the Tournament MVP, tallying 22 kills, a .700 hitting percentage and 12 digs in the championship match alone.
Seniors Whitney Dosty and Paige Weber are also leaders of the Wildcat squad. Both players competed with the 2010 U.S. A2 National Team this past summer. Outside hitter Dosty leads the team offensively, hitting 3.95 kills per set, currently the seventh-highest kills average in the conference. Weber, a setter, is coming off of a strong match against New Mexico State in which she tallied 41 assists and two aces. Owens, Dosty and Weber received All-Pac-10 Honorable Mention honors for their play in the 2009 season.
The Card has the historical edge over both opponents, with a 56-4 record over Arizona State and 54-6 against Arizona. No member of this year’s Stanford roster has lost to either team–the Cardinal last fell to the Wildcats in 2005 and the Sun Devils in 2000.
Still, Stanford understands the territory that comes with being atop the national rankings and expects a battle from both squads.
“Being number one gives us a kind of confidence that I think comes mostly from the knowledge of what it took to get there,” Lichtman said. “It does put a target on our backs, and we know that, but hopefully that will help us focus even more as we go through the season. We’re prepared to do whatever we can to defend that ranking.”
The match on Friday against Arizona State will take place at 7 p.m. in Tempe, and Sunday’s match versus Arizona will be held in Tucson at 1 p.m.