On Sunday, #3 Stanford women’s volleyball defeated UCLA 3-1 (25-27, 25-23, 25-20, 25-10) at Maples Pavilion. Stanford improves to 15-2 overall and 8-0 in the Pac-12 while UCLA falls to 10-8 overall and 2-6 in the Pac-12.
Stanford sophomore outside hitter Elia Rubin (16 kills & 14 digs) and redshirt senior outside hitter Caitie Baird (16 kills & 11 digs) had double doubles for the Cardinal while fifth year outside hitter Kendall Kipp (16 kills & 9 digs) nearly had the third double double for the team. Iman Ndiaye was the top performer for UCLA with 12 kills.
BOX SCORE: UCLA at Stanford-Sunday, October 15th
“Well, I thought UCLA came ready,” Stanford head coach Kevin Hambly said after the match. “You know, they came to play. Going into it we knew they were big, we knew they were physical, they have a good block, and their two middle, I mean so what we got from them was not that big of a surprise. They had a very good plan and they executed really well early and we still had chances to win that first [set] and they made some plays and we didn’t. Made more errors than we’d like. We gave them a lot of points. I think we had nine hitting errors in those first two sets and a bunch of those were also just spraying it out of bounds and so I feel like we kinda settled in and played better, but it was a fight the whole time and I expect it to be a good fight when we go back down to UCLA. You know, I think they did a nice job of competing.”
The first set was tight as it was tied 5-5 after Sami Francis got a kill for Stanford. Elena Oglivie had a service ace for Stanford during this stretch while Anna Dodson and Iman Ndiaye had kills for UCLA. After Baird and Ndiaye traded kills, it was tied 9-9.
“Yeah, we got her going a little bit,” Hambly said of Francis, who is in her second match back from a foot/ankle injury. “We still got more to work on connection-wise and she was a little rusty. Blocking-wise she did a pretty good job. She did a better job. But she’s not back to a hundred, she’s working through it. It’s nice to get her game time because you can’t fake this in practice. You have to play in games to really feel what it’s like and so she’ll get better over time.
“We gotta watch load first. So you gotta watch their load first and see how, make sure they’re not doing too much. But, we’re on that stuff. It’s more about getting a rhythm and a connection. Like that takes time. We spent all fall early like working on that middle connection. You’re out for a few weeks, it’s pretty hard to get back into it. So, this is exactly what we expected. It would be a little bit rough. But, it’s better than having Malia out there trying to fake like she’s a middle blocker. We need to get our middle back out there and also we need to get her back in rhythm.”
“It’s awesome,” Rubin said of getting Francis back. “Not only like her physicality in her play, but also just her leadership, her vocal leadership, and the energy she brings to the court is I think also crucial for our success. So, having her back in there in the groove is really good for us.”
Stanford then went on a 3-0 run to lead 12-9 as Baird, Rubin, and Kipp each got a kill. After UCLA made it 12-11, Stanford went on another 3-0 run to lead 15-11 as Rubin got back-to-back kills plus an attack error by UCLA. After Stanford led 18-14, UCLA went on a 4-0 run to tie it up 18-18 as Desiree Becker and Iman Ndiaye got kills while Carly Hendrickson got a service ace. UCLA also forced Stanford into an attack error as well. Back and forth the set would go as it would be tied 25-25 after Becker got a kill to fend off set point with Stanford on serve. Peyton Dueck then got a service ace for UCLA to make it 26-25 after which Stanford committed an attack error to make it a 27-25 set victory for UCLA.
The second set was tight as well. After UCLA took an early 3-1 lead, Stanford went on a 3-0 run to lead 4-3 as Kipp got a kill while Baird got back-to-back service aces. It continued to be close as it was tied 11-11 after Kami Miner had a service error for Stanford. Stanford then went on a 4-0 run to lead 15-11 thanks to back-to-back attack errors by UCLA and back-to-back kills from Kipp and Rubin off assists from Miner.
After a kill by Dodson made it 15-12, Stanford went on a 4-0 run to lead 19-12 as Rubin and Francis each got a kill, Oglivie had a service ace, and UCLA had an attack error. UCLA would never lead again in the set, though they did go on a 3-0 run at the end of the set to make it a 24-23 lead for Stanford. Off Hendrickson’s serve, Stanford was able to finally get set point as Baird got the set-clinching kill off an assist from Miner. 25-23 Stanford took the second set and tied up the match.
“It was a little bit of an interesting match,” Rubin said. “We were saying just the energy felt a little bit off. Didn’t feel like our normal. So, I think we came out a little bit flat and then obviously that showed on the court and then the whole time were kinda just like, I think we came to the conclusion that we were just playing scared to lose instead of just trying to fight and take the win.
“So I think once we kinda turned that around and we found ourselves, it was a lot better. So, overall proud of us. We were able to work through that first set kinda like that hunch and then we picked it up. It was consistently better throughout the match. So, that’s all that matters…They were making the game about their middles and their middles were doing really well. So we were kinda just like trying to counter that and figure out how to get them out of system. Attack them on the serves a little bit more and I think that’s what we ended up doing is yeah, like I said got better.”
UCLA would take an early 5-3 lead in the second set after Dodson got another kill. Stanford then went on a 4-0 run to lead 7-5 as Kipp, Rubin, and Francis each got a kill while Kipp also got a service ace. UCLA would then win three of the next four points to tie it up 8-8. Stanford then won two points in a row off back-to-back attack errors from UCLA to lead 10-8. After a kill by Ndiaye made it a one point lead for Stanford at 11-10, Stanford went on a 3-0 run to lead 14-10 as Baird got a service ace while UCLA committed two attack errors.
From there, Stanford would build out their lead even further as a kill by Baird off an assist from Miner made it a 20-14 lead. Stanford would go on to win the set 25-20 as a kill by Kipp off an assist from Miner clinched the set. Stanford now led 2-1 and needed to win just one more set to finish the job.
“We just finished,” Hambly said of the second and third sets. “I wouldn’t say that we switched that much, we just finished the set and made less errors than we do a little better. Because I thought we, after the first set, we kinda figured them out. We really defended well and some of their kills they had were kinda weird little kills…it was either middle or weird little kills, but you look at their outsides, they didn’t have big numbers. They hit zero, .037. One of them hit negative, one had three kills. And usually if that’s happening, it’s tough to win. I thought we were doing that kinda the whole time. But we weren’t executing our side of the net. Offensively we struggled. Kami struggled a little bit with the connection and then it just happens in these matches, like sometimes you’re a little bit off and you can’t be off in the Pac-12. That’s why it’s hard to win lots of matches in the Pac-12. You see upsets it’s because you’re a little bit off. I think it was credit to these guys to steady out and really get in a nice rhythm and work through it and do better.”
The fourth set would be a route. Stanford opened up on a 4-0 run as three of those points came off kills from Baird (all assisted by Miner). Pretty soon it would be a 12-4 lead for Stanford after a kill by Francis, a service ace by Kipp, and an attack error by UCLA. After a kill by Grace Olson gave UCLA their eighth point of the set to make it 17-8, Stanford went on a 7-0 run to lead 24-8, their longest run of the match. UCLA would win a couple more points in a row to at least get to double digits, but in the end a kill by Kipp off an assist from Miner clinched the set 25-10 and the match for the Cardinal.
“I think we were just attacking them off the serve, which was really important for us,” Rubin said of their fourth set success. “We were a little bit, I felt like we were kinda serving easy the first couple of sets. So, putting in the pressure on that and then like I said, we started to play more like us and I think when we’re in control of matches, that’s when really good things happen. So, I think that’s kinda what happened. We got over the back and forth battle and then we just kinda took it into our own hands.”
Touching quickly on UCLA, they at least got a road split this weekend. Their So Cal counterparts USC weren’t so fortunate as they fell to Cal on the road on Sunday. On top of that, they battled Stanford really hard. If they can find a way to make the NCAA tournament, they could make some noise.
As for Stanford, they continue to be a buzzsaw that nobody wants to face. They remain undefeated in Pac-12 play and with Sami Francis getting her footing more and more with each passing match, they’re just gonna get better and better. Stanford could have easily gone down 0-2 and had this go to a fifth set, but instead they finished the job in four sets. Really a testament to how well they move the ball and get everybody going.
A big reason why they move the ball so well is the play of Kami Miner at setter. She does a wonderful job of setting up her teammates for easy kills and they in turn do a great job of finishing off the points. It’s very much like a Stockton-to-Malone situation.
“That’s just what we do, right?” Hambly said. “That’s where we’ve been at all year. That’s what I mean we got in our offense. I think Kami does a nice job of using them all. They’re all pretty close to the same numbers. That’s what we want. That’s how we play. We’re a system based team and we execute our system, there should be disperse of things around and that’s what we did…We have a lot of offense, we have a lot of weapons. She [Miner] is a good setter. I think our system opens it up so that she can get a lot of points, score a lot of points. And then be able to get to a lot of different players and so, I think that’s a team thing. Those assists, the outsides and the middles making good decisions. That helps as well. Because we have some talented players on this squad.”
Given this might be the last time they face USC and UCLA at Maples, getting the home sweep over them feels really good for Stanford. The Nor Cal/So Cal rivalry is real and so that makes this all that much sweeter of a home sweep.
“Oh, it’s awesome,” Rubin said. “Especially for me like being from L.A. So, that’s really cool. Always a great feeling.”
Up next for Stanford is a road match at Oregon State on Friday. That will begin at 7:00 PM PT on Pac-12 Networks, the first of a four-match road trip that will also include stops at Oregon, Arizona, and Arizona State.
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