On Saturday, (1) Stanford women’s volleyball defeated (8) Houston 3-2 (25-15, 25-20, 22-25, 22-25, 15-7) to advance to the Sweet Sixteen of the NCAA Tournament. Stanford sophomore outside hitter Elia Rubin led the way for the Cardinal with 23 kills and 12 digs while Caitie Baird and Kendall Kipp both had 16 kills of their own. Houston graduate student outside hitter Kenna Sauer was the top performer for the Cougars with 24 kills.
BOX SCORE: Houston at Stanford-Saturday, December 2nd
“First, congratulations to Houston on a great year, on playing a great match, on turning that around when first two sets were pretty lopsided,” Stanford head coach Kevin Hambly said after the match. “For them to play the way they did I thought that’s a credit to all those graduate seniors that they have and their oneness to compete, not being afraid and playing in a good environment here tonight. So just, I thought they did a really nice job against us and it was I thought it was a great match especially for the tournament.
“I think we played as well as we have all year for the first two sets and I thought we competed at a high level, we executed the game plan, and then things kind of fell apart. Some of it due to some of the changes that Houston was making; some of it due to just I think our lack of just execution and they all of a sudden got in one that got pretty tight and I think we felt that. What you have to feel in the tournament a little bit is that fear that you can lose and because it can be over and I think in some ways it's good for us to realize that because then you fight for the point that's in front of you as opposed to worrying about that anymore. At least that's what I hope you take away from that because that happens in the tournament. Every team that I've had make a run has felt that before and so I don't know.
“Hopefully we're gonna learn from that and we'll get to work and we have another week which are excited about to keep working and see if we continue to get better and get ready for what looks like ASU coming forward who you know is a really good team from our conference. It's going to be it's going a tough match; it's going to be a great match actually. One that would be great for the fans.”
Stanford took control early in this match. After Houston took an early 5-4 lead in the first set, Stanford went on a 5-0 run to lead 9-5. Kipp had a service ace during that run while Sami Francis had a kill. Stanford’s next big run came after they led 14-9 following a kill by Abbie Jackson to get the Cougars within five points.
Stanford then went on a 6-0 run to lead 20-9. Houston called a timeout after it became a 4-0 run, but Stanford added two more points out of the time out. Kipp had four kills during that run while Rubin had two. Stanford went on to win the set 25-15 as a kill by Kami Miner ended the set.
The second set was a bit tighter, but Stanford still had the edge. After a kill by Rubin, Stanford led 5-3 and after back-to-back kills from Kipp and Miner, Stanford led 7-4. After Katie Corelli got a kill for Houston, it was a 10-9 lead for Stanford. It was shaping up to be a close set. But then, Stanford went on a 4-0 run to lead 14-9. Rubin had a pair of kills during that run while Baird had a kill of her own.
Houston then started to claw their way back, eventually getting within two points of Stanford at 19-17. They found a way to trade points and then win back-to-back points a couple of times. It remained back forth for a bit as Stanford led 22-20 following a kill by Houston’s Nena Mbonu. Stanford then went on a 3-0 run to win the set 25-20. The Cardinal now had a 2-0 lead.
At this point, it seemed certain that Stanford would win. The only question was whether or not Houston would win a set or not. To Houston’s credit, they did a lot more than just that.
In the third set, it was very back and forth at the beginning as it was tied 5-5 and later 9-9. After Houston led 11-10 following an error on their part, they responded with a 4-0 run to lead 15-10. Sauer had a pair of kills during that run. Stanford also called for time after it was 14-10, but Houston tacked on one more point out of the time out.
Following a kill by Rubin, Stanford trailed by five points (17-12). Rather than allowing Stanford to come back, Houston pretty much shut the door on that as they went on a 4-0 run to lead 21-12. After a kill by Jackson, Houston led 23-14. To Stanford’s credit, they were able to make the final score of the set look a lot better as they went on a 7-0 run to make it 23-21. Sauer then got a kill to make it 24-21. Sauer then committed an attack error to make it 24-22, but Kellen Morin got the set clinching kill off an assist from Morgan Janda. 25-22 the Cougars took the third set.
In the fourth set, Stanford jumped out to an early 3-0 lead as Rubin and Kipp got kills during the run. Houston responded with a 4-0 run that included a service ace by Jackson and a kill by Sauer off an assist from Janda. Following a 3-0 Stanford run, the Cardinal were up 9-7. It looked like they might pull it out in four sets. But then, after trailing 8-10, Houston went on a 5-0 run to lead 13-10.
From there, Houston would go on to win the set 25-22. Stanford never was able to reclaim the lead or tie it up. After Houston went up 24-20, Stanford won a couple of points to make it 24-22 before Houston shut the door for good thanks to a kill by Sauer to give them the set 25-22. It was now all tied up at two sets apiece.
“I think they and it’s a credit to them, they were being really aggressive,” Miner said of Houston’s comeback. “And I think we kinda had to take a step back and kinda reevaluate because we were hesitating more than we normally do on defense. And so I think for us, that was a big difference in those two sets and so going into that fifth, that was what we were talking about in terms of getting back to what we normally do.”
“Yeah, agreed,” Kipp added. “I think we kinda backed down when they started pushing back and putting pressure back on us rather than elevating and rising our level of play, too. So I think we were able to turn that around in the fifth. But yeah, they were fighting and they were making great adjustments.”
Heading into the fifth set, my head said Stanford should pull through, but my gut wasn’t so sure. Houston had a newfound sense of confidence and Stanford looked a bit rattled. The Cardinal really needed to regroup.
Stanford found a way to take the first point of the fifth set thanks to forcing a Houston attack error. Houston then responded with a kill by Jackson to tie it up 1-1. Stanford then went on a 3-0 run to lead 4-1. The fourth point came thanks to a clutch service ace down the line by Anna Pringle. While more work was needed, Stanford appeared to be in a good position.
“Well, I think what was interesting is that she didn’t score a point until the fifth set,” Hambly said of Pringle. “So she was at zero percent point scoring percentage. So for her to do that and be clutch and hit a couple really nice serves, that was exciting. We had conversations about not having her serve and it was like no, she’s been here, she’s got us here all year, we trust her, like let’s go for it and she went out and made plays and it was, it’s what she’s done all year for us. She’s had runs for us all year and this one she took a little while to get into it. So, it’s what we’ve come to expect from her no doubt.”
Rather than throwing in the towel, Houston shortly found a way to go on a 3-0 run to tie it up 5-5. It looked like this set might go down to the wire. At this point, Stanford kicked it into another gear as they won six points in a row to lead 11-5. The first four points of that 6-0 run were attack errors by Houston while the final two were kills by Rubin. Stanford was now in firm control.
After a kill by Morin gave Houston their seventh point of the set, Stanford went on a 3-0 run to close out the set and match as Rubin and Francis got kills while Houston committed an attack error on match point. The Cardinal survived 3-2.
“Yeah, I think for us we talked a lot about playing together and we’ve trained this entire season for moments like this,” Miner said. “So, for us it was kind of making sure that we weren’t making the moment bigger than what we were used to because we put in so much work all together and just being in that grind together was big for us.”
“Yeah, I’d agree,” Kipp added. “We’ve been in some tough fifth set moments, too this season and so I think we just were reminding ourselves. We’ve been here and we’ve done it and it’s not gonna be easy, but I feel like we felt very confident in our ability to go out there and take it.”
Touching quickly on Houston, they let it all out there. They could have given up on the road, but they instead dug deep and found a way to make it a match. They should hold their heads high for the way they competed and forced Stanford to beat them in five sets as opposed to three or four.
As for Stanford, they have to hope this serves as a wakeup call. They gotta close the door when they get the chance and when you are up 2-0 on a team, you can't let a team hang around like they did. You can’t give them reason to believe. By giving Houston reason to believe, Stanford was nearly upset. Anything can happen in a fifth set.
That all said, Stanford is now 4-0 in five set matches this season. They know how to win them and that’s the mark of a championship level team. In the NCAA Tournament, you’re going to get tested and have moments like this. It’s the great teams that learn how to pull through and still come out on top even when they get tested like this. That’s what Stanford did.
Up next for Stanford is their Sweet Sixteen match against (5) Arizona State on Thursday. That will be late at night, starting at 8:30 PM PT on ESPNU.
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