On Friday at 7:00 PM PT on ESPN+, No.4 Stanford women’s volleyball will open up NCAA tournament play at home against Pepperdine. Stanford comes in as the 4th overall seed in the tournament, which means they got the final #1 seed out of the four regions. This of course means they get home court advantage all the way through the Final Four should they get there.
Last time out: Last Friday, Stanford defeated Cal 3-0 to complete the Big Spike sweep on Senior Day. Graduating seniors Selina Xu, Natalie Berty, and Emily Teehan all got to play. Stanford already had the Pac-12 title clinched, finishing out the regular season 24-4 overall and 19-1 in the Pac-12.
RECAP: #5 Stanford WVB defeats Cal on Senior Day
On Pepperdine: The Waves come in at 19-10 overall, going 10-8 in the WCC. They picked up a 3-1 victory over Baylor at the start of the season when Baylor was ranked #9, so they’ve shown they can win big matches. Prior to their regular-season ending victory over Portland, they lost three matches in a row, but two of those losses were to #16 BYU and #2 San Diego. The WCC is one of the stronger conferences in the nation and so for them to have a winning record in conference is impressive. Their head coach Scott Wong is in his eighth season as head coach.
The Waves have three players who they rely heavily on: Freshman outside hitter Emily Hellmuth (2.90 kills per set), sophomore outside hitter/opposite Grace Chillingworth (2.89 kills per set), and junior middle blocker Meg Brown (2.82 kills per set). The three of them form a really nice trio, capable of doing a lot of damage. Libero Riley Patterson is averaging 4.14 digs per set, doing her job in the back row while senior setter Isabel Zelaya is averaging 10.11 assists per set.
Keys to the match: For Stanford, the first thing they need to do is dominate on serve. Stanford averages 1.48 service aces per set while their opponents average 0.96. Pepperdine averages 1.50 service aces per set while their opponents average 1.31. So, both teams are used to dominating on serve. Whichever team does better will have an edge.
The second thing Stanford needs to do is get off to a strong start. Pepperdine will look to come out swinging in that first set and make a match of it from the opening serve. If Stanford can match that energy and take the first set, they should be able to cruise to victory from there.
The third thing Stanford needs to do is play clean. When they have a strong hitting percentage, they are really tough to beat. When you’ve got Kendall Kipp, Caitie Baird, and Elia Rubin out there doing their thing, it’s tough for teams to stop them. When they get sloppy, they can become quite vulnerable.
Prediction: Stanford is at home, it’s the opening round of the tournament, etc. I got them winning tonight and I do think it’ll be in straight sets. Pepperdine is a good team and if they take the opening set, things could get interesting. I just think Stanford is going to come out laser focused to make sure that doesn’t happen.
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