On Wednesday, the eve of Thanksgiving, #6 Stanford women’s volleyball will take on the Oregon State Beavers on The Farm. The match will begin at 4:00 PM PT on Pac-12 Insider. Stanford comes in at 22-4 overall and 17-1 in the Pac-12 while Oregon State comes in at 7-21 overall and 2-16 in the Pac-12.
Last time out: Stanford defeated Arizona in 3-0 (25-17, 25-19, 25-23) on Saturday. Kendall Kipp led the way with 17 kills. As a result of their 16th straight victory, Stanford has jumped up to #6 in the latest AVCA Coaches Poll.
RECAP: #8 Stanford WVB sweeps Arizona on The Farm
On Oregon State: The Beavers have had a really rough season. Their only wins of the season are at home against Colorado and a winless-in-conference Cal team. They have not faced Stanford yet this season, so this will be the only matchup between these two teams.
The top player on this Beavers team is sophomore outside hitter Mychael Vernon, who is averaging 3.32 kills per set. She’s doing her part to lift this lousy Beavers squad. Sophomore defensive specialist/libero Ryan White is averaging 3.34 digs per set, doing a solid job in the back row.
As a team, defensive play is definitely the strength of this Beavers team. They average 14.07 digs per set to their opponents’ 12.92. Where they really struggle is net play. They average 2.01 blocks per set to their opponents’ 2.44. They don’t have a ton of height and that seems to be something they need to address on the recruiting trail.
Keys to the match: The first thing Stanford needs to do is keep the intensity on the net. Stanford averages 2.68 blocks per set while their opponents average 2.08. If McKenna Vicini and Annabelle Smith keep up their stellar play up front, Stanford should be fine.
The second thing Stanford needs to do is keep it up on their serves. They average 1.43 service aces per set to their opponents’ 1.01. If Stanford serves like that today, they’ll be in a strong position to win.
Finally, Stanford has to not get complacent. They sometimes get too lax against weaker teams. They need to come out fired up to win this match with ease so they can look ahead to having a good Thanksgiving meal.
Prediction: Oregon State is really bad and Stanford is one of the top teams in the nation. A 3-0 Stanford victory is the obvious prediction here.
To connect with CardinalSportsReport.com on Facebook and Twitter, click here.
To connect with Ben Parker on Facebook and Twitter, click here.
Email: slamdunk406@yahoo.com
