On Friday, No.4 Stanford women’s volleyball defeated Pepperdine 3-1 (25-11, 25-18, 18-25, 25-20) in the first round of the NCAA tournament. Kendall Kipp led the way for Stanford with 21 kills, 7 digs, and 4 blocks while Caitie Baird had 19 kills, 7 digs, and 1 block. Meg Brown was the top performer for Pepperdine with 10 kills.
“First, congratulations to Pepperdine,” Stanford head coach Kevin Hambly said after the match. “They had a great season, they had some great wins, we talked a lot about how hard it is in someone’s season. Pepperdine proved that tonight with how hard they fought and they really turned some things around after we were, I felt like we were in control in the first two sets and they came out and played great, actually in the third set and turned it around offensively. Did some nice things defensively.
“Thought we let our foot off the gas a little bit, but they took full advantage of that and extended that match and made it a pretty good match there at the end and we were battling. So, I think we were relatively efficient for the most part as far as attacking and all that and passing. We did a nice job. Yeah, just left our foot off the gas. Just a little bit, especially defensively against Pepperdine and they, like I said, took full advantage of that.”
“First off, congrats to Stanford,” Pepperdine head coach Scott Wong said after the match. “I thought they had played a great match. Really a talented team that can play the game. From all ends of the line. They can serve well, they have some great athletes, they attack the ball at a high high rate and I thought they started off the match strong and we responded and so did they and congrats to Stanford and their coaching staff. I think they do a wonderful job.”
Stanford got out to a 7-1 lead in the first set. Kendall Kipp and McKenna Vicini each had 3 kills. It was a strong start for the Cardinal as Pepperdine called for time.
Stanford would continue to cruise, up 19-9 as Kipp was up to 5 kills. Stanford was hitting .478 while Pepperdine was hitting .071. All things were going Stanford’s way.
“I just thought that Pepperdine looked a little tentative early,” Hambly said. “And then they kinda worked their way back into it. Like they just seemed, they were a little cautious and they made errors that they we’ve watched a lot of tape a lot that they don’t typically make. Which is normal in the tournament. I think there’s a lot of nerves and once they settled in, we saw the Pepperdine, especially that third, fourth set, saw who they were all year. So I think it took them a while to get into it, but that’s really for Scott to answer. I think from our side, I thought we were really steady the first two sets.”
Stanford would go on to take the first set 25-11. Pepperdine got hit by a wave of Cardinal domination. Kipp was hitting .714 to go along with her 5 kills. She was feeling it.
“Caitie’s serve,” Kipp said of what was clicking in that first set. “She came out firing away. That was awesome and then I think we just came out really determined to, I mean, it’s the tournament, we’ve been preparing for this all year so we were really determined and wanting to play our best volleyball and I think we let it dip, but hopefully we can keep doing that.”
“Yeah, I would just say taking it one point at a time,” Baird added. “Not worrying about the mistakes, but just keep fighting. Keep going after it and know that if we stay in control we’ll be fine.”
Stanford got off to a strong start in the second set, leading 7-3 after a kill from Baird, but Pepperdine would come back to tie it up 8-8.
Stanford would start to pull away a bit as they went up 15-12. Baird was up to 8 kills. She was starting to come alive.
Stanford would go on to win the second set 25-18. Pepperdine had a better showing than the first set, but Stanford still won comfortably. Baird (10 kills) and Kipp (9 kills) were leading the way for Stanford. It was a 2-0 lead for the Cardinal.
In the third set, Pepperdine settled in even more. After it was tied 8-8, the Waves went on a 4-0 run to lead 12-8 thanks to a Stanford attack error, kill by Vanessa Polk, kill by Emily Hellmuth, and a service ace from Meg Brown. Stanford called for time. Stanford tried to tie up the set and retake the lead, but to Pepperdine’s credit, they were able to fend them off, winning the set 25-18. Brown was up to 7 kills. The Waves had a pulse and finally had sunk their teeth into the match after a really rocky start in the first set.
Stanford would lead 11-8 in the fourth set after a kill by Baird and a block error by Pepperdine. It would continue to be close as Stanford led 15-14. Pepperdine was putting up a real fight as they were on a 3-0 run, forcing Stanford to call for time.
Unfortunately for the Waves, they would not be able to retake the lead and force a fifth set. A real crucial sequence was a kill from Kipp, a service ace from Baird, and another kill from Kipp that made it a 23-18 lead for Stanford after it had been 20-18. From there, Stanford would go on to win the fourth set 25-20, winning the match in four sets.
“I think we started talking about we can’t make this bigger than it is,” Kipp said of the key to finishing the fourth set strong. “It’s just a volleyball match. We’ve done that plenty of times in the Pac-12 and so we just had to take a deep breath, calm it down. I think we got a little frantic and we just started executing our game plan a bit better and I think that we started to turn it around…I think we’re a resilient team. Honestly, I think it’s good that it happens early on. We learn how to fight through that and stressful situations and I think we’ll be ready for it next time we’ll be able to turn it around quicker.”
“Yeah, just staying in control of our side, slowing it down,” Baird added. “Taking our time just really focusing on things we can control. Like passing the ball, getting our serves in, and just really staying together as a team…Definitely can rebound from [letting our foot off the gas]. It’s just a, like our mentality, we didn’t have the same defensive mentality we had in the first two sets and so just kinda keeping that going, staying consistent and steady the whole time. It’s just what we gotta focus on.”
For Stanford, this match was a bit closer than they would have liked, but the key thing is they won and after being tested, they found a way to step up and deliver the goods. They’ve done that all season long and so it really shouldn’t be a surprise that they were able to dig deep once again.
“I have a lot of confidence in their ability to play volleyball and score points,” Hambly said with a bit of a chuckle. “And we had proven that we could play at a higher level. It was more like hey, relax, don’t try to do too much, we’re trying to win points in one swing, we’re trying to win the match in one swing and weren’t playing smart volleyball and making a bunch of errors and I thought that we did a nice job of that, especially early and just kind of played steady.
"Made way better choices in that fourth set and then we talked about playing determined instead of frantic. Like Kipp mentioned, got a little bit frantic. Just playing more with determination and loose as opposed to frantic. I thought they did a nice job of that. Played a lot of volleyball matches, they know what it feels like when it’s right.”
As for Pepperdine, while the result is not what they wanted, they can hold their heads high knowing they won a set and made Stanford finish strong. They could have easily folded, but instead, they kept battling and made the match a lot more interesting as a result.
“I think we started serving the ball a little better and passing the ball a little better,” Wong said of how his team was able to settle in. “And I think with that, allowed us to get them out of system and our team defense is a lot better, our block is a lot better and it allowed also on the flip side of things with them being uncomfortable out of system. It allowed our offense to do a little better and so I thought we did a nice job responding with our serve mostly.”
Up next for Stanford is a match at Maples against LSU on Saturday. That will begin at 6:00 PM PT on ESPN+.
“Haven’t watched too much yet, but we’re expecting a fight from what I saw there, out there competing really hard,” Kipp said of LSU. “And everyone’s fighting for their lives. So I think we’re just ready for a battle and team who’s gonna fight all the way through.”
On LSU: The Tigers went 16-13 overall and 9-9 in the SEC. They’re coming off a strong 3-1 (21-25, 25-19, 25-20, 25-22) victory over Hawaii who was the higher seeded team.
The Tigers are led by senior outside hitter Sanaa Dotson, who is averaging 3.68 kills per set. Junior outside hitter Paige Flickinger is averaging 2.71 kills per set, doing a nice job of giving Dotson the support she needs. Sophomore libero Ella Larkin is solid in the back row, averaging 4.37 digs per set.
Keys to the match: For Stanford, it starts with containing Dotson. They cannot allow her to heat up. If she does, the Tigers could make this interesting. She’s really the engine of this team and so much of their success relies on how well she plays.
Secondly, Stanford needs to avoid the kind of dips they had against Pepperdine. At some point, these lulls can come back to haunt you. Stanford needs to keep their foot on the gas.
Finally, Stanford needs to get off to a strong start. By dominating the first set against Pepperdine, they really set the tone for the whole match and even though Pepperdine did eventually settle in, it was still too little too late for them. If Stanford has a strong first set and wins it decisively, I like their chances to win.
Prediction: Stanford is the higher ranked team, they’re at home, and they’re eying a Final Four bid. I don’t see them getting knocked out this early, but as we saw yesterday, LSU is not going to go down without a fight. I’m going to say Stanford defeats LSU in four sets. Stanford will win, but LSU will find a way to take a set off of them and make it a bit of a match.
To connect with CardinalSportsReport.com on Facebook and Twitter, click here.
To connect with Ben Parker on Facebook and Twitter, click here.
Email: slamdunk406@yahoo.com
