On Thursday at 7:00 PM PT on ESPNU, No.4 Stanford women’s volleyball will take on Houston in the Sweet Sixteen (regional semifinal) of the NCAA tournament. The match will be played at Maples Pavilion as Stanford has home court advantage through the Final Four.
The other two teams in the regional semifinal are San Diego and Kentucky. San Diego is the number two seed in the region while Kentucky is the number three seed. Stanford of course the number one seed and 4th overall seed in the tournament.
Last time out: On Saturday, Stanford completed a 3-0 (25-11, 25-15, 25-21) sweep of LSU in the second round of the tournament. Kendall Kipp led the way for Stanford with 24 kills.
RECAP: No. 4 Stanford WVB advances to Sweet Sixteen after LSU sweep
On Houston: The Cougars went 30-3 overall and 19-1 in the American Conference in the regular season. They advanced to the Sweet Sixteen after defeating South Dakota 3-2 (25-14, 25-19, 18-25, 23-25, 15-11) and Auburn 3-2 (25-27, 25-15, 12-25, 25-23, 15-8). They’ve won 22 of their last 23 matches and know how to win. Plain and simple.
Senior outside hitter Abbie Jackson (3.76 kills per set) and graduate student middle blocker Isabel Theut (3.35 kills per set) are the top offensive players for this Cougars team while junior libero Kate Georgiades averages 5.47 digs per set. Georgiades made national news and a SportsCenter Top 10 highlight reel for the way she dove on the table to keep a point alive last week. Houston thankfully went on to win the point.
As a team, the Cougars average 13.9 kills per set on a .249 hitting percentage. They also average 12.87 assists, 1.58 service aces, 15.28 digs, and 2.11 blocks per set. Their opponents average 11.19 kills per set on a .169 hitting percentage. Their opponents also average 10.54 assists, 1.15 service aces, 14.43 digs, and 1.91 blocks per set.
What the teams are saying: I was able to attend the pre-match press conference on Wednesday for both Houston and Stanford. Below are some quotes from both teams about the matchup and how the tournament has gone so far.
“This is the most special team I’ve ever been a part of. They’re selfless, they work hard for each other, they get along together, it’s never a chore to be around this team.” -Houston head coach David Rehr
“Talent, talent, and more talent and with size. That’s what Stanford is. Their pin-to-pin, probably one of the biggest attackers we’ve seen. Kipp at 6’5” is gonna be fun to deal with, but it’s gonna start with us at the service line and it’s kinda continue with us being able to take their best shot and still fighting and still competing in the game and all we’re looking to do is make it competitive and if we can get it competitive at the end, I think we can get a shot to kinda get a set out of it and then and our goal that we’ve talked about before is win one point and then win the next point and then try to win the next point after that and let’s see how many we can collect because if you start worrying about the big picture at the end, Stanford will get you. But I think if we just worry about what this point and what this thing can do for us, can we side out, can we serve them off the court, can we do something to help us gain an edge, that’s how we’re gonna win.”-David Rehr
“I mean our key is kinda just to focus on our side, play our game, but they also do some unique things. Am I allowed to say specifics?...They do some funky stuff that we haven’t really seen before so we’ve just been making sure that we’re focused on our game plan and execute that well tomorrow night.” -Stanford outside hitter Kendall Kipp
“I mean, just being on the details and playing our game and trying to control the game with our side. Slow it down.”-Stanford outside hitter Caitie Baird
“I’ll add they have really good balance and they play with great tempo. So they stretch teams out and they serve really well and they can pass and they’re very well balanced, well-coached team. Pretty obvious, so they’re gonna challenge us in ways that no team has.”-Stanford head coach Kevin Hambly
“Yeah, it’s been crazy. Like you said, we’ve had a full arc. Like, I feel like we’ve seen the highest of the highs and the lowest of the lows. Winning a national championship our freshman year and then not, winning what, two games our sophomore year? Like, we’ve seen it all. But I think we were lucky at freshman year to get such a good example. Like the seniors on that team were incredible leaders, incredible people, incredible players and we got to see something that we want to emulate. But we talk about how as amazing as that was, it didn’t really feel like ours because we didn’t, we weren’t playing in that match. We didn’t go out and earn that.
“So then we really felt like it was our turn to step in and try to rebuild the program after losing so many of those starters and it doesn’t happen overnight, so it took the last two seasons to rebuild this team, but and it was hard for some of us to step into more of a leadership role after kinda coming in there and just letting that team run the show, but I think we’ve had a lot of talks with our coaches about it and our staff is so amazing, we’ve put in so much work over last winter and spring and just kinda, just takes putting the work and it takes time and really proud of how far we’ve come.”-Kendall Kipp
“I feel like I’ve blocked out parts of that match [loss at Oregon]. But I remember vividly like sitting in the hallway after that match, we had a talk, obviously nobody was happy that we had just lost, and I feel like we were all as teammates pretty honest with each other about what was working and what wasn’t and I feel like we got a lot more honest with each other after that. I think sometimes we were a little afraid to step on other people’s toes on the court and call stuff out that people were doing and I feel like we kinda were, just we’re gonna lose games if we don’t turn it around. So, we got a lot closer after that and figured out how to be competitors.”-Kendall Kipp
“I think we have gotten frustrated by that in the past [good defenses]. I think we’re used to siding out and scoring and so sometimes if that isn’t working we kinda have to remind ourselves that we can stay in rallies with teams. I mean, we don’t just have good size at the front, we have great defense, too. And we serve tough. I think we’re a well-balanced team. So I think probably just reminding ourselves that we need to be comfortable staying in rallies with these guys and not freak out if we don’t score on the first ball. And expect a fight because they are a good team and they’re gonna bring it. Everyone is in the tournament.”-Kendall Kipp
“Yeah, I just echo everything she said. Just getting in the right mindset and attacking and just knowing that if we keep the ball in, we’ll be ok. We have pieces that we need to do the things we can. So just staying confident in ourselves and not letting it get too frustrating or overwhelming at times.”-Caitie Baird
“We’ve played some good defensive teams, you know. Nebraska and those teams that have frustrated us in those ways. We’ve learned some lessons. These guys will present different challenges than them so we’ll have to figure that out, but I think we’ve as best we can, prepared for a team like Houston, not necessarily Houston, but a team like Houston.” -Kevin Hambly
“Yeah, our schedule is pretty consistent on game days. We get our pre-game meal four hours before a match. So, we’ll usually do our serve and pass in the morning and then I’ll usually go in and get some form of treatment or do rehab before and then pre-game meal and then I always take a nap. Just to get my mind off the game and that’s kinda my form of meditation is just not thinking about it and then show up and nothing super crazy before the match, just hanging out with the team. Talking.” -Kendall Kipp
“Yeah, I pretty much echo that stuff, just taking care of our bodies, making sure that we’re in the right head space, maybe look over the scouting report just to make sure I know where I’m supposed to be on things. And then just gotta sneak in fruit snacks and stuff.”-Caitie Baird
Keys to the match: For Stanford, the first thing they need to do is just simply keep playing their game. If Kipp and Baird go off and have a big performance, one has to like their chances to win this match. They just have too many weapons.
Secondly, Stanford needs to do a good job handling Houston’s defense. They talked about that yesterday. Houston will try to frustrate them, so it’s all about making sure they handle whatever it is they’re gonna throw at them as best they can.
Finally, Stanford just needs to play clean. When Stanford gets in trouble, it’s when they aren’t playing clean and they are committing too many mistakes. If they can play a clean match, have a good hitting percentage, and execute, they’ll be fine.
Prediction: Stanford is at home and they’re on quite a roll as their last loss was September 25th at Oregon. I got them defeating Houston, but I think Houston will get a set. 3-1 Stanford is how I see this one playing out.
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