On Saturday, No.4 Stanford women’s volleyball defeated LSU 3-0 (25-11, 25-15, 25-21) to advance to the Sweet Sixteen of the NCAA tournament. Kendall Kipp led the way for Stanford with 24 kills while libero Elena Oglivie (19 digs) and setter Kami Miner (45 assists) had big performances as well. Sanaa Dotson was the top performer for LSU with 9 kills.
“First, just congratulations to LSU,” Stanford head coach Kevin Hambly said after the match. “Great season by them. I thought they, Tonya in her first year there has done a really nice job at getting them into the tournament and then getting to the second round is a big deal. And you could see that they have, that she’s done a nice job of maximizing the talent and just really impressed with that team and we were impressed looking at them as we were doing our scout. Just, what a great team they are.
“I thought our team came out very very defensive minded and did a really nice job of defending LSU, putting pressure on them with the serves, and blocking defense was good. We were able to kinda take the middles out, who are incredible. Their middles do a nice job. Took them off the net when they couldn’t use them and then did a nice job of shutting down the outsides.
“It was nice to see us finish. Especially we were down a little bit and to see us finish in that third and really compete. So, just excited to move onto the next round with the group and I think we’re all pretty excited about being home and excited about the way we played tonight and the way we competed, mostly.”
“Obviously, we didn’t play the way we would have liked to have played today,” LSU head coach Tonya Johnson said after the match. “Give credit to Stanford whose a very good team, obviously. A number one seed in the tournament, great history and tradition here at Stanford and just a great volleyball team. I wish that we had played with a little bit more intentional in terms of what we were trying to do. But that didn’t happen for us today.
“Things didn’t go our way today and that’s ok and that doesn’t put a damper on the season that we’ve had and everything that our team has accomplished this season by coming back to the tournament for the first time since 2017, advancing to the second round for the first time since 2014. So, we have so many things to be proud of and so many that things we can build upon and so I’m super proud of this team and the season that we’ve had.”
Stanford got out to an early 10-6 lead in the first set. They were in a nice groove as Kipp was already up to four kills while Elia Rubin had three. At this point, LSU called for time, hoping to get back in the set and figure some things out.
The timeout by LSU did not change things as Stanford went on to win the opening set 25-11. Kipp was really in the zone with 8 kills. Stanford was hitting .483 while LSU was hitting .000. Stanford was playing much cleaner and dominating as a result.
Stanford would get off to a strong start in the second set, leading 12-6. All things were going the Cardinal’s way. Kipp was up to 12 kills, continuing to be in a groove. LSU was having a really difficult time settling in and getting into any sort of flow.
As expected, Stanford finished the set strong, winning 25-15. It was now a 2-0 lead for the Cardinal. Kipp was really taking control with 15 kills. LSU had no answer for her.
To LSU’s credit, they did better in the third set. After a kill by Paige Flickinger, it was a 9-6 lead for the Tigers. Stanford would bounce back to tie it up 12-12 after a kill by Annabelle Smith, but then LSU would once again take the lead, going up 15-13. At this point, LSU was hitting .375 in the set while Stanford was hitting .300. That was making the difference.
After an attack error from Stanford, it was now a 19-15 lead for LSU. Stanford called for time, hoping to get back in the set and not have to play a fourth. To Stanford’s credit, the timeout worked out as they were able to get it tied up 20-20 after back-to-back kills from Kipp.
“I think we talked about how tough it is to end another team’s season, especially when you know they’re going to be giving all they have,” Miner said. “To prevent that from happening. So, for us we knew that we were going to get LSU’s best. Especially after the first set and so, we, I’m just so proud of the way we responded to that and especially being down the latter portion of that set. Us just really focusing on serving, passing, and being able to come back and really fight to finish that match.”
“Just to add onto that, I thought that in the timeout we were talking about just being determined and being really resilient,” Oglivie said. “They were giving us their best and we had to attack them back and so I thought we did a really good job doing that in that third set.”
Then, Stanford would go up 22-20 after back-to-back kills from Kipp and Rubin. From there, Stanford hung on to win the third set 25-21. LSU gave them a scare in the third set, but they were able to close out the match without having to play a fourth.
“Yeah, someone on the court said it’s a game to five for us,” Oglivie said of finishing the third set strong. “And so we really focused on minimizing errors and really focusing on serving well and getting them off the net like Kevin said. We want to serve their middles out. I thought Caitie went on a really good run. Got a lot of good service pressure and got them off the net and it helped the defense, it helped our attackers, our setters, so it was really nice to have good service pressure.”
“Just to add to that, I would say just us making sure that we’re focusing on executing and we knew the game plan each set,” Miner said. “And so, just really turning to that and knowing that we didn’t need to do anything different to finish off the last couple of points of that set was really big for us.”
For Stanford, this match went about as well as they could expect. After winning the first two sets with ease, they knew LSU was going to come out swinging in the third and make it tougher on them, so to find a way to win in straight sets is huge. While Kipp’s stat line is what stands out at first glance, it really was a team effort. Miner and Oglivie in particular were huge, doing a great job of embracing their roles as they always do.
“For me it’s just about trying to make things easier for my teammates and all of the hitters and stuff,” Miner said of her role. “And then people like, you have a lot of passing makes my job so much easier. But, I think just trying to focus on, for me it’s always about focusing on just doing what I can to try and get them one blocker and put them in the best position to score and so I feel like that’s my main focus.”
“Yeah, I agree with Kami, I think just making it easier for my teammates,” Oglivie added. “Taking pressure off them when they’re in serve-receive or defense, getting a good dig for Kami to set it. And just kinda helping out wherever I can and taking control of the defense and serve-receive like whether to shift or not or making defensive moves or defensive changes. So yeah, I take a lot of pride in that for sure.”
As for LSU, while this isn’t the way they wanted it to go, they have to feel proud about winning their first NCAA tournament match since 2014 when they knocked off Hawaii on Friday. Their program made a lot of progress in their first season under head coach and alum Tonya Johnson. They certainly seem like a program that is on the up and up.
“Oh, I think it’s huge,” Johnson said of what this tournament means for her program. “I think it speaks volumes for our program and for the young ladies in our program and for the future of our program. And obviously, each year this being my first year, each year has to be a building block and it’s definitely a step in the right direction that we can continue to build upon going forward.
“I think a lot of our time [as coaches] was spent just trying to get them to believe that they were good enough. That they were good enough to make it to the NCAA tournament and win a match in the NCAA tournament, you know? And I think that was a lot of the battle. But also making sure that we got into the gym and we were grinding and getting better at the things that we needed to get better at and they embraced us and they committed to us and I couldn’t be more thankful for this group of young ladies.”
Up next for Stanford is a home match against Houston in the Sweet Sixteen. The time and date of that match is TBA. That information will be included in my preview once I get that up.
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