University of Washington
Stanford
No. 5 Stanford Knocks Off No. 4 UW in Five Games
November 08, 2007 | Volleyball
Nov. 8, 2007
SEATTLE - Behind double-doubles from Alix Klineman and Cynthia Barboza the No. 5 Stanford Cardinal knocked off the No. 4 Washington Huskies in a crucial Pac-10 volleyball match on Thursday night. Stanford (12-2 Pac-10) takes over first place in the Pac-10 with a one-half game lead over Washington (11-2 Pac-10).
In front of the seventh-largest regular season crowd in Bank of America history, the Cardinal held on for a 3-2 win, avenging a loss to the Huskies earlier this season in Palo Alto, Calif. Game scores were 30-23, 24-30, 30-25, 21-30, 15-10. Stanford's win also snapped the Huskies 39-match home winning streak that dated back to the 2004 season.
4,117 fans watched an intense match that went back-and-forth much of the way. Despite the loss, Huskies head coach Jim McLaughlin felt the match provided a good learning experience for his team as they head towards the postseason.
"I think we can learn how to handle the environment a little better because we're going to have some of these [big crowd games] as we move into the tournament. We just have to learn to maintain our poise and have that focus a little bit sharper. We were still in the thing. We had some opportunities, we just didn't take advantage of them."
The Huskies led 3-2 in the deciding fifth game on a kill by Jessica Swarbrick, but from there the Cardinal slowly pulled away. A kill by Stevie Mussie brought the Huskies within two at 9-7 and brought the home crowd to its feet, but Stanford scored three straight points for a 12-7 lead and eventually won on a kill by Erin Waller.
Stanford showed early on why they have the fourth-best hitting percentage in the nation, hitting .360 in the opening game on their way to a 30-23 win.
After an early 4-4 tie, the Cardinal scored 16 of the next 23 points to take a 20-11 lead. Stanford (23-2 overall) later took its biggest lead of the game at 27-17 on a kill by Foluke Akinradewo. The Huskies pulled within six at 28-22 but they couldn't overcome the 10-point deficit.
After hitting just .200 in game one, Washington turned things around by hitting .333 in the second game on their way to the 30-24 win. Another big factor in the Huskies win was their play at the net. Stanford had outblocked the UW 4-0 in the first game, but the Huskies turned the tables on the Cardinal, outblocking them 4.5-0 in the second game.
The game featured 10 tie scores and three lead changes with the last tie coming at 16-16. The Huskies went on a five point run to open up a 21-16 lead and the Cardinal was never able to come closer than three points, at 24-21, the rest of the way.
In the third game, the Huskies appeared to be pulling away from the Cardinal in the middle of the game, opening up a 17-12 lead. But Stanford scored six of the next seven points to tie it at 18-18. After the two teams traded points, the Cardinal scored four straight points, three of them on Husky attack errors, for a 23-19 lead on their way to a 30-25 win.
Stanford hit .325 during the game and held the Huskies to just a .122 clip.
"We [lost] game three because of mental errors," said McLaughlin. "I think we have to improve our communication and get better swings in transition, those are the things we have to address. Other than that I thought we were okay tonight."
Neither team hit particularly well in the fourth game, with Washington hitting .186 and Stanford just .091, its lowest of the match. With the game tied at 18-18, the Huskies scored three straight points, two coming on kills by Mussie to open a three-point lead at 21-18. After the Cardinal scored a point on a kill by Klineman, Washington went on a 5-0 run for a 26-19 lead. The Huskies scored 12 of the games final 15 points after the 18-18 tie.
Swarbrick paced the Huskies with 14 kills and eight total blocks while Mussie, Christal Morrison and Jenna Hagglund all had double-doubles. Mussie tallied 14 kills and 11 digs, Morrison had 11 kills and 18 digs, and Hagglund finished with 51 assists and 10 digs.
Becky Perry added 11 kills for Washington and Tamari Miyashiro led all players with 30 digs. Megan McAfee chipped in a career-high 13 digs.
For the Cardinal, Klineman had 21 kills and 14 digs and Barboza recorded 14 kills and 18 digs. Akinradewo and Waller finished with 17 and 14 kills, respectively. Bryn Kehoe tied her career-high with 70 assists and chipped in 13 digs, while Gabi Ailes had 29 digs to lead Stanford.
Washington finished the match with a .177 hitting percentage with Stanford finishing at .267. The Cardinal had 77 kills to Washington's 60.
The Huskies (22-2 overall) host another critical Pac-10 match tomorrow night when they take on No. 7 California. The Golden Bears (20-5, 10-4 Pac-10) defeated Washington State, 3-0, tonight.
NOTES: Stanford leads the all-time series 42-9 ... the Huskies two lowest hitting percentages of the season have come against Stanford. Washington hit a season-low .167 in their win at Stanford back on Oct. 12 ... Stanford had not won in Seattle since Nov. 15, 2002 ... Stanford's game one win marked the first time an opponent had taken game one from the Huskies at home this season ... Morrison's 18 digs were a season-high. It was her 10th double-double of the season ... Washington finished with 9.5 team blocks. Stanford had six ... Swarbrick hit .478 to lead all players ... the Huskies had eight service aces to just two for the Cardinal. Hagglund had three and Ashley Aratani added two ... Alesha Deesing added eight kills for Washington.
