On Sunday, #8 Stanford women’s volleyball defeated Utah 3-0 (25-22, 25-22, 25-20) on the road. Elia Rubin led the way for Stanford with 13 kills, 3 assists, and 8 digs while Kendall Kipp had 11 kills, 6 digs, and 4 blocks. Madelyn Robinson was the top performer for Utah with 12 kills and 6 digs. Stanford improves to 10-4 overall and 5-1 in the Pac-12 while Utah falls to 10-7 overall and 3-3 in the Pac-12.
In the opening set, it was tight early on as both teams were tied 6-6 following kills from Caitie Baird for Stanford and Allie Olsen for Utah. It would remain tied 11-11 following kills from Baird and Olsen again. Utah was doing a great job of matching Stanford’s energy and intensity.
Stanford would then go up 13-11 following a block and kill from Baird. Stanford looked like they might finally gain some separation and it certainly appeared that way when they took a 19-16 lead after a kill from Rubin. However, Utah would find a way to win three points in a row to make it 19-19.
Stanford would go up 21-19 before Utah cut it to one, making it 21-20. Stanford would then win three points in a row to go up 24-20 following a kill from Baird, an attack error by Utah, and a kill by McKenna Vicini. Utah would win a couple points to put a little pressure on Stanford, but in the end, Stanford took the opening set 25-22 after a set-clinching kill from Kipp. It was a tight set, but the Cardinal found a way to pull it out.
In the second set, Utah jumped out to a very early 4-2 lead, but following a kill by Kipp and a service ace by Rubin, Stanford tied it up 4-4. Later on in the set, Stanford would lead 13-11 before Utah won two points in a row off a kill from Olsen and an attack error from Baird. It was now 13-13. At the media time out, Stanford led 15-14. Utah once again was keeping it close, not letting Stanford easily pull ahead.
Following back-to-back kills from Kipp off assists from Kami Miner, Stanford led 21-18. That ended up being all the separation Stanford would need as they went on to win the second set 25-22 after a set-clinching kill from Baird. It was now a 2-0 lead for the Cardinal.
In the third set, Stanford jumped out to a 5-1 lead as Vicini, Rubin, Kipp, and Sami Francis all got kills. Utah was in real trouble now. Thanks to a kill from Madelyn Robinson and a service ace from Kamry Bailey, it was now a 5-3 Stanford lead as Utah won two straight points. After a solo block from Emily Smith, Utah trailed 7-6, doing a great job of fighting back.
From there, Stanford would win five of the next seven points to lead 12-8, pushing Utah back yet again. With Stanford up 18-15, Utah was hoping to make one more push, but instead, a service error and attack error from Utah made it a 20-15 Stanford lead.
From there, Stanford would stay in front with relative ease, walking out with a 25-20 third set victory as Utah committed a service error to end the match. Stanford walked out with a 3-0 sweep as they played a pretty clean match with only 14 attack errors and a side out percentage of 81.8%. Really not much for them to be upset with in this one.
Up next for Stanford is a road match at Arizona on Friday. That will begin at 6:00 PM PT on Arizona Live Stream.
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