On Saturday, #14 Stanford women’s volleyball defeated Tennessee State 3-0 (25-18, 25-12, 25-18) on the road in Nashville. Stanford senior Kendall Kipp led the way for the Cardinal with 14 kills, 2 aces, and 6 blocks while sophomore Sami Francis had 7 kills and 5 blocks. Stanford improves to 2-0 overall while Tennessee State falls to 0-1.
Early on, it was a tight match as both teams were tied 9-9 in the first set. Kipp had five kills during this stretch, but to Tennessee State’s credit they were hanging tough as Aleksandra Rojecka had a couple of kills of her down to keep the Tigers in the set.
Stanford would then go on a 3-0 run to lead 12-9 thanks to a pair of service aces from Caitie Baird and an attack error by Rojecka. Tennessee State would respond to make it 12-11 thanks to a kill by Kennedy Davis and a service ace by Carla Boudal. Rather than letting Tennessee State tie up the set again, Stanford went on a 4-0 run sparked by Elena Oglivie. Oglivie got an assist to Elia Rubin for the kill and afterwards held serve for three straight points, making it a 16-11 lead for the Cardinal. From there, Stanford was able to hang on to win the set 25-18 with little trouble as Baird got a two kills in the final three points won for Stanford to close the set.
Kami Miner would serve the opening of the second set for Stanford, getting the Cardinal out to a 3-0 lead early on as Kipp and Baird each got a kill to go along with an attack error from Rojecka. McKenna Vicini would commit an attack error of her own to put Tennessee State on the board before responding with a kill of her own to make it a 4-1 lead for Stanford. Johanna Alcantra then committed an attack error to make it a 5-1 lead for Stanford. Alcantra would respond by getting back-to-back kills after Davis got a kill of her own, making it a 5-4 set.
Rather than tying it up, Tennessee State gave Stanford some breathing room as Davis hit a service error after which Rojecka hit an attack error, making it a 7-4 set. Tennessee State would keep knocking on the door, but never found a way to tie it up or take the lead. With the score 8-7 after a kill from Alcantra, Alcantra responded with a service error to make it a 9-7 lead for Stanford.
From then on, the closest Tennessee State would get is within three points. Gabrielle Johnson got a kill for the Tigers to make it 12-9 before the Cardinal responded with 5-0 run to go up 17-9. Three of those five points were kills by Kipp. The other two were a kill by Vicini and an attack error by Rojecka. A service ace from Baird made it a 20-10 lead for Stanford and from there, they were able to close it out with ease, winning the set 25-12 after Emily Teehan secured the set-winning kill off an assist from Miner.
In the third set, Stanford made a few substitutions and looked to close out the match while getting Rubin, Baird, and Vicini some rest. Much like the first set, Tennessee State battled hard as it was tied 8-8 early on after they actually led 8-7 and 5-4.
After a service ace from Kipp and a kill by Francis, it was a 15-10 lead for Stanford, who looked like they were once again going to pull away with an easy win. Things went back and forth for the next ten points as it was a 20-15 lead for the Cardinal. All Stanford needed to do was finish strong. However, Stanford would let Tennessee State get a little bit of life as Storm White got a kill after which Kipp and Teehan committed attack errors to make it 20-18.
At this point, rather than building on the momentum that they were developing, Tennessee State completely fell apart as Stanford finished out the set and match on a 5-0 run to win the third set 25-18. Four of those five points that Stanford won were due to errors committed by Tennessee State: three attack errors and one service error. The other point Stanford got was a service ace by Oglivie to make it 24-18 before White committed an attack error to close the match. Tennessee State had their chance in the third set, but they were not able to maintain their composure.
For Stanford, this is a solid win. The goal was to win in straight sets and they did that. While Tennessee State did push them a bit, Stanford found a way to raise their game at the right times and get the job done with little drama in the end. This one really was the Kendall Kipp show as she was the only Stanford player to have double digit points with 19.5. She was fantastic.
While other players took more of a back-seat role to Kipp’s dominance, it was still a good collective team win for the Cardinal. Everyone did their job, played good defense, and ultimately made sure that they were going to play the cleaner match. That’s really what made the difference. Stanford had 11 attack errors while Tennessee State had 19.
Up next for Stanford is a road match at #15 Florida. That will take place on Tuesday at 4:00 PM PT on the SEC Network.
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