On Saturday, No. 5 Stanford women’s volleyball defeated Boston College at home by a final score of 3-0 (25-13, 25-13, 25-19). Stanford redshirt freshman outside hitter Ipar Kurt led the way for the Cardinal with 12 kills on a .688 hitting percentage while junior outside hitter Elia Rubin had 11 kills. Stanford improves to 13-2 overall and 5-1 in the ACC while Boston College falls to 8-10 overall and 1-5 in the ACC.

BOX SCORE: Boston College at Stanford-Saturday, October 12th

“I thought we, again came out and executed,” Stanford head coach Kevin Hambly said after the match. “We from the beginning, you know, they had a little bit of a lead right there, but that was they made plays, it wasn’t because we weren’t making plays. I thought then we got in a very nice rhythm after about ten points where we passed incredibly well and then we were attacking the court and then we defended at a really high level. I mean, they hit .049 and hit negative in those first two sets. They had a few kills at the end, but even then I thought we were defending it pretty well. They just kind of stepped it up just a little bit.”

Boston College got off to a strong start, leading 6-2 in the opening set as Sam Hoppes had three kills for the Eagles. After a trading points, Stanford went on a 4-0 run to tie it up 7-7. After a kill by Audrey Ross gave Boston College an 8-7 lead, Stanford went on a 4-0 run to lead 11-8 as Ipar Kurt had three kills during the run. After another kill by Ross made it 11-9, Stanford went on a 6-0 run to lead 17-9 as Lizzy Andrew got in on the action with a couple of kills. Stanford would go on to win the set 25-13 as Boston College never got back in it.

“We’re just trying to play our game,” Kurt said. “We’re trying to set the tone from the beginning so we can have a good time at the end. And we’ll try to do that for each and every game. So, that’s our main goal and we’re trying to win every single game like three zero.”

In the second set, Stanford led 8-4 after a kill by Kurt and an error by Boston College. Stanford then led 11-5 after three straight errors by Boston College. After a service error by Stanford to make it 12-8, Stanford went on a 7-0 run to lead 19-8 as Elia Rubin had a pair of kills during the run while Kurt had a service ace. Stanford would close out the set on a 3-0 run to win 25-13 as Elia Rubin, Sami Francis, and Ipar Kurt each got a kill.

In the third set, it was tight early as it was 6-6 after a kill by Anna Herrington for Boston College. After a kill by Hoppes, Boston College trailed by only two points as it was 12-10. Stanford then would go on a 3-0 run that featured two service aces by Jordyn Harvey to make it 15-10. A bit later on in the set, Stanford led 20-14 after a kill by Jordyn Harvey and a service ace by Ipar Kurt. Stanford would go on to win the set 25-19 as Rubin and Kurt each got a kill to close it out.

“They picked it up,” Hambly said of the third set. “It wasn’t like we made errors. They blocked us a few times and they got us off the net a little bit. We didn’t pass quite as well, but we still ran away with it at the end. That’s more how I expected the whole match to go as opposed to it to be 13, 13 in those first two sets.”

For Stanford, this was business as usual. They’ve been going through a soft part of their schedule and so domination is to be expected. They’re doing a great job of winning convincingly and not allowing opponents to win a set and get some hope. They’re moving the ball well, playing good defense, and playing like a top five team.

“The cool part for me is we got Lizzy going a little bit,” Hambly said. “Which is cool and blocking-wise, she’s doing a better job. So, in general, we had a pretty good all-around performance…It’s more like, set the emotional tone that we’re gonna compete for every point. We go out there and fight and execute it at a really high level. I think at times, we get a big lead, we’re okay just siding out and just continuing to side out. We don’t wanna get in that mode. We wanna get in a mode where we’re constantly pushing for points and I thought we did. I thought the whole match, a little slip up there in the third, like three points where I thought we got a little loose, but the rest of it we were liked dialed in and try to compete for every point.”

Getting Elia Rubin back was nice after she missed Friday’s match against Syracuse. That allowed them to have a more normal rhythm and flow, though Taylor Yu did a fantastic job filling in while she was out. When this Stanford team has all their pieces, they’re tough to stop because there’s so many different players that they can go to.

“Passing, ball control, defense, like all that stuff,” Hambly said of how much it helped to get Rubin back. “I mean, she’s elite in those skills to have her come in and hit .308 is pretty good as well.”

“I love playing with Elia,” Kurt said of Rubin. “She’s also so happy to be back. I’m also so happy to be playing with her.”

Ipar Kurt was definitely the star of the match for Stanford. She played extremely well and was efficient all night. She’s really coming into her own and showing why she was such a highly rated player coming from Turkey after redshirting last season.

“I thought she made really really good choices on the attack,” Hambly said of Kurt. “And I thought that Kami put her in good situations. The one ball, she had one ball that she got blocked on. It was a high ball. We’ll take that all the time. But I thought she was incredible. Obviously she hit .668, but she’s made really good choices the whole time.”

“I feel like it’s not a personal thing,” Kurt said. “It’s more of like teamwork. We played so good. I feel like we did a really good job, like defending them and blocking them and it really helped me. When I get the ball to take a point, it was really helpful to play with my teammates as the key.

“Redshirting was more like an adapting process. Because I’m from Turkey and it was like, moving to another culture, just speaking a different language and like playing a different volleyball here. Like the system is different, like me getting used to it was the main goal and now I play so much more comfortable. It’s so much easier I’d say. Being on the court, playing with my teammates; I know them, they know me. I feel like it’s a good harmony now.”

Up next for Stanford is a road match at SMU on Wednesday. That will begin at 4:00 PM PT on ACC Network.

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