On Saturday at 7:00 PM PT on Pac-12 Insider, #9 Stanford women’s volleyball will take on #3 Louisville on The Farm at Maples Pavilion. Stanford comes in at 5-2 overall while Louisville comes in at 8-1.
Last time out: On Tuesday, Stanford defeated #2 Nebraska 3-1 on the road in Lincoln. Kendall Kipp led the way for the Cardinal with 15 kills, 7 digs, and 4 blocks while Elia Rubin had 13 kills and 7 digs.
RECAP: #9 Stanford WVB upsets #2 Nebraska on the road
On Louisville: The only loss Louisville has is a 3-1 loss to Ohio State at home. Ohio State is now #5 in the nation, so that isn’t a bad loss for them to have. Outside of that, it’s been pretty smooth sailing, though they did have a narrow 3-2 victory at #13 Kentucky in their previous outing on Wednesday.
The Cardinals are led by junior outside hitter Anna DeBeer (3.16 kills per set) and graduate student outside hitter Claire Chaussee (3.03 kills per set). Both players are off to a really strong start this year, doing a nice job of creating offense for their team. Graduate student setter Raquel Lazaro is averaging 9.53 assists per set while sophomore libero/defensive specialist Elena Scott is averaging 4.00 digs per set.
As a team, the Cardinals are averaging 2.19 service aces per set while averaging 2.32 service errors per set. They also average 12.48 kills per set while averaging 3.52 attack errors per set. Their opponents in contrast per set average 1.03 service aces and 2.45 service errors while also averaging 11.55 kills and 6.16 attack errors.
Keys to the match: For Stanford, the first thing they need to do is to keep up the aggression on offense while not letting it lead to sloppy play. Stanford averages 13.07 kills per set, led by Kendall Kipp’s 3.96 kills per set. If Stanford is able to play aggressive and not have it lead to too many mistakes, they should be fine.
Secondly, Stanford needs to do more on their serve while also doing a good job on their serve return. Stanford averages 1.33 service aces per set while their opponents average 1.11. They actually defend the serve pretty well, but Louisville will look to be the team that has more service aces. If Stanford can win this department, I like their chances to win this match.
Finally, Stanford simply needs to come up big in the clutch points. That’s what made the difference at Nebraska. It was actually a pretty close match and a couple of sets could have gone either way. It came down to Stanford coming up big when the match was tied late in the set and winning set/match clinching points when they came their way. Stanford needs to replicate that same formula again.
Prediction: Stanford is at home and they’ve won two straight on the road at then #3 Minnesota and at #2 Nebraska. I didn’t pick them to win either match, but tonight I will pick Stanford to win. I think they’ve earned the right to be favored both because of their recent victories and also the fact that they are at home. I’m going to predict a close match tonight with Stanford winning in five tight sets.
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