On Friday, #3 Stanford women’s volleyball defeated Washington 3-1 (25-15, 21-25, 25-19, 25-21) on the road in Seattle. Stanford fifth year opposite Kendall Kipp led the way for the Cardinal with 21 kills on a .514 hitting percentage and a .600 kill percentage while Elia Rubin and Caitie Baird each had 12 kills of their own for the Cardinal as well. Washington freshman outside hitter Kierstyn Barton was the top performer for the Huskies with 15 kills. Stanford improves to 12-2 overall and 5-0 in the Pac-12 while Washington falls to 10-6 overall and 1-4 in the Pac-12.
BOX SCORE: Stanford at Washington-Friday, October 6th
The first set was tight early on as it was tied 5-5 after both teams traded kills. McKenna Vicini with a kill for Stanford and Kierstyn Barton with a kill for Washington. Stanford soon went on a 7-0 run to lead 12-5 as Caitie Baird and Kami Miner had kills. Miner also got a service ace during that run. Miner would later get a second service ace of the set to make it a 21-12 lead for the Cardinal. In the end, Stanford would take the set 25-15, utterly dominating the Huskies.
The second set was a different story as Washington battled Stanford a lot better from the jump. Washington led 8-7 after a kill by Barton after which Stanford went a on 4-0 run to lead 11-8 as Baird had a pair of service aces. It continued to be back and forth, tied 13-13 after a kill by Madi Endsley for Washington and tied 17-17 after Miner got a kill for Stanford. Washington then went on a 4-0 run to lead 21-17 as Barton got a pair of kills during the run. Washington would cruise to a 25-21 set victory from there as a service error by Kipp ended the set.
In the third set, Stanford jumped out to a 10-3 lead as Elia Rubin and Taylor Beaven had a couple of service aces. Five of those 10 points for Stanford came off errors by Washington. The Cardinal looked like they were going to run away with the set. But then, Washington found a way to come back as they went on a 5-0 run to make it 10-8. Maeve Griffin had a couple of service aces for the Huskies during that run.
Stanford would lead 17-13 after a kill by Rubin, but Washington responded with a 3-0 run to make it 17-16. It looked like maybe Washington would find a way to take a two sets to one lead. To Stanford’s credit, they did not allow Washington to take the lead in the second set as they ultimately finished the set out on a 3-0 run to win 25-19. Kipp had a pair of kills in that final run while Elena Oglivie had a service ace to close out the set.
In the fourth set, Stanford jumped out to a 5-1 lead after a kill by Vicini. After Washington was able to tie it up 6-6, Stanford went on a 5-0 run to lead 11-6 as Baird and Miner got kills. After Stanford led 16-11, Washington made one more push to get back in the match as they went on a 4-0 run to make it 16-15. Stanford then responded with a 3-0 run to lead 19-15 as Rubin got a kill, Vicini got a block that forced an attack error, and Kipp got a service ace. Washington would get within two points (21-19) after a kill by Barton, but from there Stanford closed out the set 25-21 as the set and match ended on a service error by Washington.
For Stanford, this was a very nice win. They’ll be at #4 Washington State on Sunday, making it easy for them to overlook Washington who is down. Instead, Stanford took care of business and didn’t allow it to get too interesting. Whenever Washington made a push, Stanford had an answer for them.
Up next for Stanford is their road match at #4 Washington State on Sunday. That will begin at 12:00 PM PT on Pac-12 Networks.
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