On Friday at 7:00 PM PT on ACCNX, No. 5 Stanford women’s volleyball will welcome Syracuse to Maples Pavilion. Stanford comes in at 11-2 overall and 3-1 in the ACC while Syracuse comes in at 12-4 overall and 0-4 in the ACC.
Last time out: Stanford is coming off a 3-0 home sweep over Wake Forest on Sunday.
RECAP: No. 5 Stanford WVB sweeps Wake Forest
On Syracuse: The Orange have a strong overall record, going 12-0 in non-conference play. However, that’s mostly due to having a powder puff schedule: NJIT, Manhattan, Idaho, Columbia, Cornell, etc. The one power five program they faced in non-conference play was Iowa State and they won that match 3-2 at home. They are yet to win a match in ACC play, showing that they truly were facing inferior competition in non-conference play. But hey, when you are a team coming off a bad season, sometimes it can be good to play a soft non-conference schedule just to get used to that feeling of winning.
The Orange are led by graduate student outside hitter Ava Palm, who is averaging 3.38 kills per set. She is having a strong season and doing all she can to help her team win. Redshirt freshman outside hitter Skylar George is averaging 2.43 kills per set while senior outside hitter/opposite Klara Zarnovicka is averaging 2.15 kills per set.
As a team, the Orange average 12.02 kills, 10.96 assists, 1.95 service aces, 13.00 digs, and 2.54 blocks per set while hitting .224. Their opponents average 11.36 kills, 10.75 assists, 1.40 service aces, 12.38 digs, and 1.80 blocks per set while hitting .169.
Keys to the match: For Stanford, the first thing they need to do is not play down to their competition. At times, Stanford has had the issue of playing down to their competition and not being ruthless enough. They have to be aggressive, play fierce, and take no prisoners. If they don’t let Syracuse hang around, they’ll be fine.
Secondly, Stanford needs to defend Palm well and not allow her to get into any sort of rhythm. If you take her out of the equation, Syracuse has a tough time winning. Stanford should look to do all they can to contain Palm and make her a focal point of their game plan.
Finally, Stanford simply needs to keep up their quality service pressure. Stanford does a great job of applying quality service pressure and making that a focal point of their attack. If they keep that up, they should be fine.
Prediction: I got Stanford sweeping Syracuse 3-0. No reason to think this match will be close.
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