No.18 Stanford WVB enters NCAA tournament on five-match winning streak

#18 Stanford women’s volleyball will face off against Iowa State on Friday, December 3rd at 2:30 PM PT in their first round match of the NCAA tournament in Minneapolis, Minnesota. Stanford comes into the tournament on a five-match winning streak with wins vs. #21 Washington State (3-1), at Colorado (3-1), at #17 Utah (3-1), at USC (3-0), and at Cal (3-0).

It’s been an up and down season for Stanford. On August 31st, they notched an impressive 3-1 win over #5 Florida in their home opener and two weeks later on September 14th defeated #6 Nebraska 3-1 at home as well. Between those two wins, they got a split in Eugene, Oregon losing 1-3 to #13 Minnesota before bouncing back to beat #18 Penn State 3-2.

In Pac-12 play, Stanford defeated #17 Utah 3-1 both at home and away, they defeated #22/21 Washington State 3-2 on the road and 3-1 at home, and for good measure, they did their part to keep Cal winless in league play, sweeping the Golden Bears in the Big Spike with a 3-1 win at Stanford on September 22nd and a 3-0 win at Berkeley on Saturday, November 27th.

Stanford lost at #1 Texas (0-3) on September 5th and at #8 Kentucky (2-3) on September 19th. In Pac-12 play, Stanford lost to #14/#18 Oregon 2-3 in Eugene and 0-3 at Stanford, they got swept by the Arizona schools on the road losing 0-3 at Arizona and 1-3 at Arizona State on October 29th and 31st, and they were unable to beat #10/#13 Washington this season, losing 0-3 in Seattle on October 24th and 1-3 at Stanford on November 11th.

Despite all these ups and downs, Stanford does find themselves in the NCAA tournament field, which at the end of the day is all that matters. They’ve shown they can hang with the best teams in the country when they are playing at their best. It’s just a matter of establishing some consistency.

In terms of who’s been key for the Cardinal this year, freshman setter Kami Miner was named Pac-12 Freshman of the Year while fellow freshman outside hitter Sami Francis also made the All-Pac-12 Freshman team. Redshirt sophomore outside hitter Caitie Baird and junior opposite Kendall Kipp both were named to the All-Pac-12 team. The four of them have had really good years and are a major reason why the Cardinal are in the position that they are in.

In terms of statistical leaders, Baird leads in kills with 445, Miner leads in assists with 1114, and Kipp leads in aces with 30. Sophomore libero Elena Oglivie leads in digs with 418 while redshirt sophomore middle blocker McKenna Vicini leads in blocks with 141.0.

Stanford has won nine national championships in their history, with three of those titles coming within the last half decade in 2016, 2018, and 2019. Stanford comes into this tournament as underdogs to win it all, but knowing their recent tournament success, it would be foolish to count them out.

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