On Wednesday at 2:00 PM PT on Stanford Live Stream, #2 Stanford women’s volleyball will take on Utah to open up their final homestand of the regular season. Stanford comes in at 24-3 overall and 17-1 in the Pac-12 while Utah comes in at 10-18 overall and 5-13 in the Pac-12.
Last time out: Stanford swept both UCLA and USC on the road over the weekend. As a result, Stanford has clinched the Pac-12 title for the second straight season.
RECAP: No. 2 Stanford WVB wins Pac-12 title after sweeping So Cal schools
On Utah: Utah has had a bit of a rough season with only five wins in league and a losing record overall. This isn’t the season they were hoping to have, but here we are. They’ve lost four matches in a row and have not played ranked teams particularly close. Lots of sweeps.
Junior outside hitter Lauren Jardine is leading the way with 2.97 kills per set while freshman outside hitter Kamryn Gibadlo (2.64 kills), sophomore middle blocker KJ Burgess (2.20 kills), and sophomore middle blocker Emrie Satuala (2.18 kills) are also averaging 2+ kills per set. There is some balance on this Utah team. They have a solid setter in sophomore Viktoria Wahlgren, who is averaging 9.21 assists per set.
Keys to the match: For Stanford, the first thing they need to do is contain Jardine. She’s the top hitter on this Utah team and everything kinda flows from her. If Stanford bogs her down, it’s going to be tough for Utah to win this one.
Secondly, Stanford needs to come out strong in the opening set. If they do, that will really deflate Utah and take away their belief. If on the other hand the opening set is tight, maybe Utah will have some belief.
Finally, Stanford needs to keep up their service pressure. It’s a strength of theirs and it needs to continue today. If it does, I don’t see how Utah makes this one close.
Prediction: I got Stanford in straight sets. 3-0. Utah has some players, but their record doesn’t give me much hope that they take a set off the Cardinal at Maples.
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