On Thursday, No. 4 Stanford women’s volleyball defeated Houston 3-0 (26-24, 25-16, 25-17) in the Sweet Sixteen, advancing to the Elite Eight of the NCAA tournament. Kendall Kipp led the way for the Cardinal with 19 kills, 6 digs, and 3 blocks while Elia Rubin (12 kills & 10 digs) and Caitie Baird (11 kills & 7 digs) had double-digit kills as well. Kami Miner also had a strong outing for the Cardinal with 4 kills and 41 assists on a .500 hitting percentage. Isabel Theut was the top performer for the Cougars with 9 kills.
“First, just congratulations to Houston on a great season and a great run here,” Stanford head coach Kevin Hambly said after the match. “Especially at the end. I thought they came out with a great plan, they attacked us in ways that we hadn’t seen on video, kinda put some pressure on us and I think we came out a little anxious, a little nervous, made a few errors, and all of a sudden we’re in a tight like a set where we’re down, I think it was 19-11, to come back and kinda find ourselves in that I think is a major challenge and real credit to these guys just having the right mentality and going one point at a time and really fighting back.
“And I thought Kami and Caitie did a really nice job serving, putting some pressure on them and things started to turn and then from there, we felt like ourselves and did a nice job defensively and put a lot of service pressure. Especially on them to take them out of their really difficult offense to deal with. So, all in all, just really excited about the effort both defensively and really impressed with Houston in the way that they played volleyball, especially in the way they attacked us early.”
“Congrats to Coach Hambly and Stanford,” Houston head coach David Rehr said after the match. “Did a really good job and just, a little too much for us today. Short and sweet.”
In the first set, Houston got off to a really strong start, winning four of the first five points. After a kill by Abbie Jackson, it was a 10-5 lead for them after which they would lead 18-10 after an attack error from Rubin. It was at this point that Stanford called for time.
After an attack error from Kipp, it was a 21-13 lead for Houston as they were just four points away from taking the opening set. Stanford was in a real hole and the margin for error was thin. At this point, Stanford turned on the jets, winning five points in a row to make it 21-18. Miner came alive with a kill and a service ace during that stretch.
“What went right was we served really tough in the first set,” Rehr said. “And our shots worked. And then got in a little bit of rhythm but then, what happened to us was Kendall Kipp happened. And she had a great match and a lot of them did, but it’s just, the difference of what we’ve seen is you can handle one or two players but when you have Kipp that can get you in front and back, when you’ve got others on the team that just punish you through the whole way, it just becomes hard to maintain. But, proud of our group. I mean, if you told me we hit .386 against them I’d be happy with that, but the fact that they hit .371 is kinda tough.”
A kill by Theut made it a 22-18 lead for Houston before Stanford went on another 5-0 run to lead 23-22. Back-to-back kills from Kipp gave Stanford the lead. It would then be back and forth to 24-24, forcing a deuce set. From there, Stanford won two points in a row to win the set 26-24. A kill from Sami Francis and a kill from Miner were the final two points of the set. The final point was pretty remarkable as Elia Rubin had an amazing diving save out of bounds, hitting the ball over her head to Miner for the kill. It was definitely the highlight point of the match.
“Talking in the huddle, we talked about getting back to our game,” Miner said. “And how we know how to play and that we were prepared for this and all we have to do is execute how we do it every day in practice. And so, that was huge for us and calming, just getting back to playing the volleyball [we play].”
“Yeah, she said it perfectly,” Kipp added. “I’m proud of the way we turned it around. I think in the tournament, we expect everyone to come out with that much fire and fight, we shouldn’t be surprised by that. So, I’m really proud of the way we just stayed steady with that and kept chipping away and that’s what we needed to take care of business in the tournament.”
In the second set, Stanford jumped out to a 9-2 lead after back-to-back service aces from Elena Oglivie. Houston called for time, hoping to turn things around. Kipp would then get a kill out of the time out to make it 10-2. Houston was in a real hole.
After a kill by Baird and a service ace by Kelly Belardi, Stanford led 14-6. Then 15-6 after an attack error from Houston. After a kill by McKenna Vicini and an attack error from Houston it was a 19-9 lead for Stanford. From there, Stanford won the set 25-16 after a set-clinching kill from Kipp.
The third set was tight early on as it was tied 9-9. Vicini got a kill to make it 9-7 before Houston responded to win two points in a row. However, Stanford then went on a 4-0 run to lead 13-9 thanks to three kills from Rubin and an attack error by Houston. Stanford would continue to put their foot on the gas, leading 19-10 after a kill by Kipp. Stanford was breezing towards a sweep that they ultimately would complete as they took the third set 25-17. A kill by Miner made it set point and after Theut got a kill to make it 24-17, a service error from Houston ended the set and match.
“I think we found our fight and started playing more stable at the end of that first set and talked about how that’s what it takes in the tournament and that should be what we expect,” Kipp said. “Not, when we make a great play, that’s what we expect. It’s not something out of the ordinary. And then I think we knew they were going to come back and be fighting for their lives. So we just talked about staying steady and keeping that, maintaining that level of play the whole time.”
For Houston, this is a tough way to end their season, but they have to feel proud of the season they had. They reached the Sweet Sixteen of the NCAA tournament and gave Stanford a real scare in the first set. This is certainly a season that they can use as a springboard to future success.
As for Stanford, this they now find themselves one match victory away from reaching the Final Four in Omaha, Nebraska. They’ve made the most of their home court advantage and will look to benefit from it again when they face San Diego on Saturday. Everyone on the team has really contributed to their success. Kipp and Baird have been huge all year, Rubin has been fantastic as a freshman, and then both Miner and Oglivie have been excellent in their respective roles as setter and libero.
“Yeah, oh my gosh, she was incredible tonight,” Miner said of Oglivie. “She was all over the place and I think she really just established that defensive mentality just for all of us and just encouraged everyone to not hesitate to make plays and I think that that’s infectious for us and we definitely saw that after the first set. Her flying around making plays like you said. It really kinda translated to everybody on the court.”
One pleasant surprise for Stanford in this match was the return of Sami Francis, who had been out with an injury since the end of October. It wasn’t clear if she’d be back at all this year, so to have her return was huge. Especially since she was able to get inserted into the starting lineup.
“It was fun,” Kipp said of having Francis back. “She brings a lot of good energy and she’s obviously an amazing player, so it was great to have her back.”
“I mean we started her in the back row, she went around twice,” Hambly said of how they approached Francis’ return. “She had two passes, so we felt pretty comfortable with her being out and she’s been doing some stuff as far as in practice and getting some jumps in. Not a ton, but we were checking in on her, we were ready to pull her at any time if she wasn’t feeling ok, we really just wanted to get her reacclimated into playing volleyball and I think it’s been a long time, she’d been out six weeks and so for her, we’re hoping we can get another match in here and see if she can be a little bit better than she was tonight.
“She was definitely rusty and I think a little frustrated with her play, which is kind of ridiculous because she hasn’t played volleyball in six weeks. But, that’s the kind of competitor she is. She wanted to contribute a little bit more and really feel like she was dialed in, but it’s gonna take her a while to get back into it…I think we were all excited to see what she would bring. She made a couple really important plays and we made a nice run with her in the second set where we kinda separated ourself and she blocked a ball really quick and then I thought we did a really nice job there.”
Up next for Stanford is their Elite Eight match against San Diego on Saturday. That will begin at 7:00 PM PT on ESPNU.
“They’re a very very good volleyball team,” Hambly said of San Diego. “They play at an incredibly high level, they have a lot of experience, they’re physical, and they’re good in system, they’re good out of system, I think it’ll be a really tough match and a match that we’re looking forward to. It should be a really fun match for the fans, it should be a fun match, it’ll be on prime time TV, it’s kinda what we’re all here for. College athletics is to be in part of those kind of matches and so I’m looking forward to see how we respond and get in that match and see what we need to do to try to come out and top and see if we can make it to Omaha.”
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