On Sunday at 12:00 PM PT on ESPN, No. 2 Stanford women’s volleyball will welcome No. 6 Texas to The Farm. Stanford comes in at 6-0 overall while Texas comes in at 3-2. This will be the first home match of the season for Stanford.
Last time out: Stanford is coming off a successful road trip to Southern California in which they defeated UC Santa Barbara and Pepperdine 3-1 in both matches.
On Texas: The Longhorns have wins over No. 8 Wisconsin, Indiana, and Houston. They also have a pair of losses to No. 19 Minnesota and No. 20 Miami (FL). So, they’ve been a little shaky at the start of the season. As you may remember, they are the defending national champions and defeated Stanford 3-1 in the Elite Eight last year on The Farm.
The Longhorns continue to be led by outside hitter Madisen Skinner, who is now a senior. She averaged a ridiculous 4.80 kills per set last season and so far this season is averaging a shade over 4.0 kills per set. She is one of the top players in the country and somebody who is capable of taking over a match.
Opposite of Skinner is senior outside hitter Jenna Wenaas, who averaged 2.82 kills per set last season and is currently averaging 2.80. She’s right about where she’s been in terms of her averages.
The Longhorns also have a strong setter in sophomore Ella Swindle, who averaged 9.54 assists per set last season but is only averaging 4.5 assists per set this season. So she’s someone who they need to get going.
Despite their shaky start to the season, Texas remains a very strong team with all their core pieces back. They just need to find their footing a bit and when they do, look out.
Keys to the match: For Stanford, the first thing they need to do is contain Skinner. She’s not having the same level of production through five matches that she did last season. She’s going to get rolling this season, but Stanford better hope it doesn’t start against them. If they contain her and keep her to four kills per set or fewer, they should be in a good position to win this match.
The second thing Stanford needs to do is keep up their defensive intensity in the back row. They are doing an amazing job this season of diving for loose balls, hustling, and keeping plays alive. If they keep up that energy against Texas, they should be able to win this match with little trouble.
Finally, Stanford needs to keep spreading things around. One major plus of this year’s team is it’s not all on Caitie Baird and Kendall Kipp to deliver the goods. They have more players they can go to in freshman Lizzy Andrew, junior Elia Rubin, senior Sami Francis, and others. That balance needs to continue to be on full display against a very talented Texas team that probably will have the best player on the floor in Madisen Skinner.
Prediction: Stanford is at home for the first time and has looked sharp all season. Texas in contrast has gotten out of the gates a bit slow. I got Stanford winning in five sets. I think Texas will come in fired up and eager to prove they are better than what they’ve been at the start of the season, but home court advantage will make the difference for the Cardinal.
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