On Sunday, #8 Stanford women’s volleyball defeated Colorado (25-16, 26-24, 25-20) at home. Kendall Kipp led the way for Stanford with 19 kills and 6 digs while Caitie Baird had 14 kills and 5 digs. Sterling Parker led the way for Colorado with 8 kills and 2 digs. Stanford improves to 18-4 overall and 13-1 in the Pac-12, improving their winning streak to 12. Colorado falls to 16-8 overall and 8-6 in the Pac-12.
“Yeah, I thought we, last night we talked about how we needed to execute at a higher level for a longer period of time and I thought we had a little dip and I thought they played a little bit better in the second set,” Stanford head coach Kevin Hambly said after the match. “And we were steadier tonight, which is a step in the right direction for sure.”
“Feeling really good about it,” Kipp said of getting the weekend sweep. “I think getting two wins at home always feels good and we’re proud of the way we fought and took care of business this weekend. So we’re feeling good.”
In the first set, Stanford got out to a strong start, leading 10-5 after a kill by Kami Miner. Stanford was serving strong as Kipp and Baird each had one service ace. Colorado would close the gap 12-9 before Stanford’s lead extended to 16-10 after back-to-back kills from Elia Rubin and Kipp. After a bad set from Colorado, it was a 20-13 lead for Stanford, who was now in firm control. From there, Stanford would win the opening set 25-16 after Baird and Kipp got a couple more kills to secure the set.
“Yeah, defensively I thought we did a nice job and we sided out at a really high level,” Hambly said of the first set. “So, that was a big deal, you know? They still hit a pretty good number, more happy with how we played in the third set because I thought we brought their numbers down and we maintained our level.”
“We just knew what we wanted to do,” Kipp added. “We knew we wanted to come in here and take care of business, get the sweep and so we just came with that energy and focus ready to fight.”
The second set was much tighter as Colorado actually took a 9-6 lead early on. Stanford would respond with a 3-0 run thanks to a Colorado service error, a service ace from Rubin, and a kill by Baird, tying it up 9-9. Colorado would again extend their lead 12-9 after a 3-0 run of their own powered by a Stanford service error, a service ace by Brynna DeLuzio, and an attack error by Stanford.
To Stanford’s credit, they once again battled back, tying it up 13-13. Things would remain back and forth as they were tied 16-16 before Stanford went on a 3-0 run to lead 19-16 after a kill by Kipp and a pair of attack errors by Colorado. Now it was Colorado’s turn to respond as they would win four of the next five points to tie it up 20-20. Things continued to be back-and forth as the teams were tied at 21-21, 22-22, 23-23, and 24-24, setting up a deuce set. Stanford would finally break the tie with back-to-back points thanks to a Colorado attack error followed by a service ace from Elena Oglivie. 26-24 Stanford took the second set.
“I think we’re just fortunate we’ve been in a lot of tight sets where we feel comfortable in those moments where we’re not getting anxious and we stay steady,” Hambly said. “And we just executed. We didn’t do anything special. We just executed at the end and because of our schedule and because of the teams we’ve played and we found ways to win and that’s a big deal.”
“Last time we played Colorado, we came out and beat them pretty good in the first set I think and then that second set they fought back and I don’t think we were really ready for that,” Kipp added. “So, we just talked about that between sets and throughout the second set that we really needed to make sure we secure that second set and didn’t let them take it again because last time I thought we lost a bit of focus in the middle of the match and that’s something we’ve been talking a lot about is just staying focused all the way through.”
The third set also was tight early on as it was tied 5-5 after a kill by Kipp and 10-10 after an attack error from Baird. Then, Stanford would find a way to pull ahead a bit to lead 15-12 after back-to-back kills from Rubin and Kipp. After Colorado got within two points (17-15), Stanford went on a 3-0 run to lead 20-15 thanks to an attack error from Colorado, a service ace from Rubin and a kill by Miner.
“I feel like we just have such great pins all-around in general,” Kipp said. “Even if shots maybe aren’t scoring one night people still gotta worry about them. Nobody’s leaving our outsides wide open. So, I think no matter what it’s really helpful to have such a balanced offense and then it opens up opportunities for me at times. But yeah, I think just having such great pins up there all the time makes my job so much easier.”
Colorado would fight back to get within two points again (21-19) before committing a service error to make it 22-19.. From there, Stanford got the job done, winning the third set 25-20 after back-to-back kills from Baird and McKenna Vicini.
“I like more that she hit .355 or whatever she hit, .375,” Hambly said of what he liked about Baird’s outing. “Well she’s hit a high efficiency. I like that we were, like our efficiency was up from last time. We kept our errors down. We played at a higher level. I felt like Kami set a really nice match, too.
“We dug balls and played space. We kept them off the net and we served really tough. I mean, aced them five times. Most of the night they were off the net. Makes it a lot easier for us to defend.”
As I predicted, Stanford took care of business in straight sets. I also correctly predicted they would beat Utah in four sets. I ran my logic past Hambly and Kipp, asking them if it made sense. Which is that they tend to play better against better competition and sometimes get too lax against weaker competition, sometimes coughing up a set that they shouldn’t. Both of them agreed with my take.
“I would agree with that,” Hambly said. “I think we stay more motivated. We more worried like that team, we should have went five went to their place. We definitely, our motivation stays high against those teams. It’s human nature to relax when you beat a team 3-0 the first time around. They kinda relaxed and so I thought, I would agree with that statement.”
“Yeah, I think that’s pretty common in sports in general,” Kipp echoed. “But, that definitely has happened to us and I think we’re just working to kinda fight through that and not change our approach to any match like no matter what opponent it is.”
Up next for Stanford is a road trip to So Cal to face USC and UCLA. Up first will be USC on Wednesday at 7:00 PM PT on Pac-12 Networks.
“SC is a big match,” Hambly said. “This is a tough team and they’re out for revenge and they didn’t play their best. They’re going to be ready to play against us and short turnaround. We only have one day of practice before we play those guys. We got a lot to get done.
“Wednesday match. We just don’t really get to focus on us this week. More about we play, Tuesday will be about USC and then we’ll get two practices, get ready for USC and then Thursday, Friday, and then we go Saturday. So, we’ll be on the road the whole time. It’ll be a long road trip. But it’ll be a good opportunity for us to kinda lock in as a group and focus on us after we play USC. Tuesday will be about SC and that’s about it.”
“It’ll be tough for school for some people missing the whole week,” Kipp added. “But otherwise I don’t think the scheduling will affect it too much. But just we’re excited to go play LA. It’s always fun games. Little California rivalry and near home for a lot of us, so it’ll be super fun. We’re excited.”
Note: Sami Francis was still out for the Cardinal.
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