On Friday, No. 5 Stanford women’s volleyball defeated NC State 3-1 (25-22, 25-23, 22-25, 25-8) at home. Stanford redshirt freshman outside hitter Ipar Kurt (15 kills) and senior middle blocker Sami Francis (14 kills) led the way for the Cardinal. Stanford improves to 10-2 overall and 2-1 in the ACC while NC State falls to 7-4 overall and 2-1 in the ACC.
BOX SCORE: NC State at Stanford-Friday, October 5th
“I thought NC State is a good team,” Stanford head coach Kevin Hambly said after the match. “They show that they’re really good offensively, like most of the time they’re really tough for us to stop and they were in system a lot, too. I don’t think we got a lot of service pressure on them the way that we’d like to until kind of the end. Things got a little away from them. But, I think in general, like, we were very good offensively and not very good defensively in the first three sets and then kind of turned that around in the fourth set. Played some pretty good D.”
This match was tight through the first three sets as Stanford narrowly took the first two sets before NC State narrowly took the third set. NC State battled Stanford hard all night and really made them work during those first three sets.
In the first set, NC State actually led 14-9, but Stanford was able to come roaring back, going on a 5-0 run to even it up 14-14. Sami Francis, Elia Rubin, and Lizzy Andrew had a kill for Stanford during that run while Taylor Yu had a service ace. After it was tied 20-20, Stanford went on a 4-0 run to lead 24-20, closing out the set 25-22 as Ipar Kurt got a kill off an assist from Kami Miner.
In the second set, it was tight early as it was knotted up 6-6 and then 12-12. NC State actually led pretty deep into the set, going up 21-20 after a kill by Ava Brizard. Stanford then went on a 3-0 run to lead 23-21 as NC State had an attack error followed by a service ace by Sami Francis and a kill by Ipar Kurt. Stanford would take the set 25-23.
In the third set, NC State got the better of Stanford as it was once again tied 6-6 and then 12-12. NC State then went on a 3-0 run aided by a couple of Stanford errors to lead 15-12. After a kill by Sami Francis trimmed NC State’s lead to one point at 19-18, NC State went on a 3-0 run to lead 22-18 as Amanda Rice had a pair of kills. NC State would take the third set 25-22 as a kill by Brizard closed out the set.
“All those sets were tight until the very very end,” Hambly said. “And we made plays. Against these guys, they have a third set, we didn’t make plays and they won. The fourth set, we were able to put a lot more service pressure on them, which was nice.”
“I think they did a great job of exploiting our weaknesses,” Francis said of what NC State did well. “I mean, Kevin said that at the end of the game, too. But they were running a fast offense, they made sure to keep balls in play. They stayed in rallies and I think that was crucial for them being on par with us that whole three sets.”
In the fourth set, Stanford dominated. After it was tied 3-3, Stanford went on a 5-0 run to lead 8-3 as Sami Francis had a couple kills while Elia Rubin had one of her own. After a kill by Jada Allen for NC State, it was a 9-5 lead for Stanford. Stanford then went on a 3-0 run to lead 12-5 as Ipar Kurt and Lizzy Andrew got kills. After a kill by Brizard gave NC State their seventh point of the set and made it 12-7, Stanford went on a ridiculous 12-0 run to make it 24-7. Kami Miner had a couple of service aces during that run while Jordyn Harvey had three kills. In the end, Stanford took the set 25-8 as a kill by Harvey ended the match, making it a 3-1 victory for the Cardinal.
“Service pressure just got them in trouble and kept them off the net,” Hambly said of the key to winning the fourth set so convincingly. “And then executed. I thought, when they were in system they were killing us, especially their middles did a really nice job against us. And they were getting kind of loose and then we finally got them off the net and then we could stop their outsides.”
“I think when we came out of the third set, we all made sure to sit down and just like, take a deep breath and just realize that we have to come back with fighting energy and that we came here to have fun and get balls high and get them in play,” Francis added. “I mean, in terms of my success, I looked at ‘Lena and I was like hey, you’re digging so many balls and that’s why I’m getting set so much. So, I feel like it was a collective win and a decision to give it our all in that last set.”
For Stanford, this is a nice win. They played three tight sets and then cruised to a win in the fourth set. Sammy Francis was fantastic in this one as she had 14 kills and zero errors. She was in a good rhythm all night and was a major reason why they dominated that fourth set.
“I think one of the things that I was trying to focus on was making sure I was staying in assignment and keeping balls in play,” Francis said of her performance. “Kevin was saying that once we get in rallies, we can win rallies, so I was making sure to give the ball to the setter or just keep it in the court rather than make unforced errors that would potentially lead to the other team getting points. So, I was just trying to make sure that if I wasn’t in position to swing and kill, then keeping it in play.”
“She had no errors and she had 29 swings and 14 kills and like, she was really really good,” Hambly said of Francis. “She was automatic in the side out and she was really good in transition. She showed what Sammy is, you know, it’s a really nice player.”
Up next for Stanford is a home match against Wake Forest on Sunday, October 6th. That will begin at 1:00 PM PT on ACCNX.
“It’s weird,” Hambly said of scouting new opponents. “We haven’t seen any of these teams. Don’t know anything about them. Don’t really know a lot of the recruits are regional and we don’t know those guys, you know, so it’s like, it’s a lot of new players and it’s exciting. It’s different. You don’t know how coaches are gonna execute, like put the game plans together. It’s just a lot of new for us. So fortunately, Mike and Alex have been in the ACC and they have some ideas about these teams plays. I have zero and so I’m kind of learning on the fly.”
“Yeah, I think Kevin said and we’ve all been saying, these teams in the ACC are people we’ve never seen before,” Francis added. “And we need to come out respecting them and every team is gonna be good and they’re coming to win. Everyone wants to win against Stanford. We’ve never played them before, so you just gotta make sure that we stay aggressive throughout these next few games.”
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