On Wednesday, No. 5 Stanford women’s volleyball got a 3-0 sweep over Cal in Berkeley by a final score of 25-15, 25-17, 25-14. Stanford outside hitters Elia Rubin (11 kills & 8 digs) and Ipar Kurt (10 kills) led the way for the Cardinal along with setter Kami Miner, who had 32 assists and 11 digs. Cal outside hitter Maggie Li (8 kills) was the top performer for the Golden Bears. Stanford improves to 15-3 overall and 7-2 in the ACC while Cal falls to 10-11 overall and 2-7 in the ACC.
BOX SCORE: Stanford at Cal-Wednesday, October 23rd
“I thought we executed at a pretty high level,” Stanford head coach Kevin Hambly said after the match. “We kept their kills under 10 each set and I thought that was good. I thought we put a lot of good service pressure on them. We passed pretty well. But you know, it’s like a six set match. Like, we gotta play these guys on Friday, so we’re only halfway done. You know, like we gotta win six and we got three and we gotta continue to be ready to fight on Friday.”
“I think we just, going into this match wanted to re-establish, like simplifying things,” Kami Miner added. “Not over complicating them. Just executing the game plan and so I feel like we did a good job of going out there and doing that. They’re a great team and so they made us be very disciplined blocking wise and I think that got better in the second and third set for us, so it was good. It was a great passing night.”
In the first set, Cal got off to an early 5-3 lead as they were on a 3-0 run thanks to a kill by Kate Mansfield and a couple of attack errors committed by Stanford. But then, Stanford turned on the jets to go on a 5-0 run to lead 8-5 as Ipar Kurt had a couple of kills while Taylor Yu had a couple of service aces. Cal would get back in the set as it would be a 10-9 lead for Stanford after Maggie Li got a kill for the Bears. Stanford would then win back-to-back points after a kill by Kurt and an attack error by Cal.
“She was super-efficient,” Hambly said of Kurt. “She made really good choices. I would say, she made a bad choice on one swing and she kinda sailed and I thought out of system she was very very good.”
“Awesome,” Miner said of setting for Kurt. “She’s super loud, always communicating with me, we have a great feedback loop with each other and so that makes it really easy for me to make adjustments for her and she’s been awesome.”
After a service error by Stanford outside hitter Jordyn Harvey, it was a 15-12 lead for the Cardinal. Cal still had a bit of life in the set. But then, Stanford went on a 4-0 run to lead 19-12 as Kami Miner got a kill along with Ipar Kurt and Elia Rubin. From there, Stanford would win the set 25-15 as Stanford closed out the set on a 3-0 run fueled by a kill from Harvey, an attack error from Cal, and a service ace by Kurt.
“Yeah, I think we scout a lot beforehand, so I know a lot of the times what the block is doing and if there’s going to be a person in front of me or not,” Miner said of how she gets her surprise kills. “And then when I get the right pass, Elena [Oglivie] will be yelling whether it’s open or not and so for me, I have a lot of feedback and so I know whether it’s gonna be open or not.”
In the second set, Stanford got off to a 5-0 lead as Elia Rubin had a couple of kills while Elena Oglivie had a service ace during the run. Later on in the set, Stanford went on a 3-0 run as Lizzy Andrew, Taylor Yu, and Ipar Kurt got kills. After back-to-back kills from Yu, Stanford was up 21-14. Stanford would then end the set on a 3-0 run as Cal committed an attack error followed by a service ace from Yu and a kill by Miner.
“Yeah, I think that’s something we definitely talk about,” Miner said of getting a good kill distribution. “We for sure will ride the hot hitter, but definitely spreading it around. Especially when we’re passing as we’ve been is something that, it’s a luxury to do and all the hitters are so loud and always on the route, so I have the choice in my head of all of them because I can hear all of them loud and aggressively. And so, it’s been really nice to have all the options available.”
In the third set, Stanford got off to a 5-2 lead as Elia Rubin and Sami Francis had a couple of kills while Elena Oglivie had a service ace. After a kill by Andrew, Stanford led 7-4, but then Cal responded by winning two points in a row to make it 7-6. After a kill by a Maggie Li, it was 9-8 as Cal was still knocking on the door.
“I mean, she’s a very good player, we’ve known her from last year,” Hambly said of Li. “I thought, you know, she scored a few points to be in there, but for the most part, we did a good job, we had a good plan. Executed pretty well. We have to make sure we can continue to execute moving forward. You know, they’ll make some adjustments, we’ll make some adjustments, and see where the game takes it on Friday.”
At that point, Stanford once again turned on the jets to go on a 5-0 run, leading 14-8. After Cal won back-to-back points to make it 14-10, Stanford went on a 7-0 run to lead 21-10 as Yu had a couple of service aces while Francis had a couple of kills along with a kill from Rubin. From there, Stanford took the set 25-14 as a kill by Kurt wrapped things up.
For Stanford, this match went about as expected. Cal is not a good team and even with them bringing a solid crowd out to the match, Stanford was still favored heavily. That said, it still feels good to get a sweep and bounce back from a difficult loss to Pittsburgh. Stanford needed to get back in the win column and get back to playing good volleyball and a match against Cal was just what the doctor ordered.
“I think more important, to get back on the court after a tough loss against Pitt,” Hambly said of the importance of this win. “I don’t think we played bad. We just didn’t play our best. And it’s nice to come back and play at a high level and to get a win. Like, it sucks sitting around and thinking about the loss. Nice to get back on the board and thinking all the way up.”
On that note, Stanford will run it back against Cal on Friday at 7:00 PM PT on ACCNX. This time it will be on The Farm.
“I haven’t done it very much,” Hambly said of facing a team back-to-back times. "So, we’ll see. I don’t know. It’s the first time.”
“Yeah, it’s fun, especially it being a rivalry game to be able to play here and then come home and play,” Miner added. “And so, tomorrow we’ll make some changes from the game plan today so we can be kind of executing a little bit sooner on certain things, blocking and defensively. But other than that, it’ll be an exciting and we’re excited to play at home.”
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