On Thursday at 4:00 PM PT on ESPN2, No. 2 Stanford WVB will face No. 6 Florida in the Sweet Sixteen of the NCAA tournament in Louisville, Kentucky. Stanford is the No. 5 national seed, making them the highest No. 2 seed as teams are seeded 1-16 in four different regions. Just to make that part clear.
Last time out: Stanford swept LMU 3-0 on Saturday to advance to the Sweet Sixteen of the NCAA tournament.
RECAP: Stanford WVB cruises into the Sweet Sixteen
On Florida: The Gators have had a strong season. They are 23-7 overall and went 11-5 in the SEC. They defeated NC State 3-0 in the first round of the NCAA tournament and then upset No. 3 Kansas 3-2 to reach the Sweet Sixteen. The last time they faced Stanford was early last season, getting a 3-0 sweep on The Farm, so they should have some confidence going against the Cardinal.
The Gators are led by sophomore outside hitter Kennedy Martin, who is averaging a ridiculous 5.58 kills per set. She’s one of the top outside hitters in the nation and is a real force to be reckoned with. Senior middle blocker Gabrielle Essix is playing fantastic with 3.20 kills per set while redshirt senior outside hitter Isabel Martin (2.72 kills) and five year outside hitter AC Fitzpatrick (2.25 kills) are also averaging 2+ kills per set.
As a team, the Gators average 13.62 kills, 12.88 assists, 1.89 service aces, 12.27 digs, and 2.23 blocks per set while hitting .295. Their opponents average 11.56 kills, 10.73 assists, 1.21 service aces, 10.58 digs, and 1.86 blocks per set while hitting .223.
Keys to the match: If Stanford wants to defeat Florida, the first thing they need to do is see if they can get their middle blockers going a bit more. Namely Sami Francis and Lizzy Andrew. If the two of them can combine for an average of five kills per set, that would be huge. Right now Francis is averaging 2.38 kills while Andrew is averaging 1.44 kills per set. Getting the middles going is something Hambly mentioned on Saturday. It’ll be interesting to see if they can accomplish that goal.
The second thing Stanford needs to do is win the service pressure battle. Stanford averages 1.68 service aces per set while their opponents average 0.89. Florida averages 1.89 service aces while their opponents average 1.21. Whichever team wins the service pressure battle will have an inside advantage to winning this match.
Finally, Stanford needs to contain Kennedy Martin. She’s putting up monster stats and on paper is the best player on the floor. If Stanford can slow her down a bit and put some more pressure on the other Gators that more than anything will be the key to getting the win.
Prediction: Given that Stanford is the higher seed, I’ll pick them to win the match in four tight sets. It should be a competitive match all the way through and one that I could easily see going five sets.
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