By John Reid
Card Reider
On Twitter @cardreider1
STANFORD – Hell hasn’t, exactly, frozen over, but it’s cooling down some. Stanford volleyball has been so good at Maples Pavilion that a second straight loss at home – 25-17, 18-25, 25-15, 25-16 – to No. 8 Washington on Saturday surely misaligned the planets some.
The top-ranked Cardinal – on the wrong end of a 4-setter to BYU at Maples on Sept. 22 – have to be reeling a bit. Stanford (7-3, 1-1 Pac-12) hadn’t lost back-to-back matches at Maples since Oct. 9 and 14 of 2016. The BYU defeat was the first home loss for Stanford coach Kevin Hambly in his two-plus seasons Down on the Farm.
Hambly got right to it as to why the Huskies (10-2, 1-1 Pac-12) held the Cardinal to a season-low .111 hitting percentage, .094 in the first set.
“They out-executed us the whole time,” Hambly said. “They beat us in the serve-pass game. They were in system more. They attacked us well and hit smart shots. They did a great job scoring.”
Washington had a match-high 17 kills by outside hitter Kara Bajema, who hit .302 with 10 digs and 3.0 blocks. Bajema was a third team AVCA All-America last season This match may have been won at the net with Washington out-blocking the Cardinal 16.0 to 9.5.
Stanford outside hitter Kathryn Plummer – the reigning two-time AVCA National Player of the Year – seemed hobbled some, wearing a bandage around her upper-right thigh. Plummer was good enough for a team-high 14 kills, eight digs and two aces, though her hitting percentage was an uncharacteristic .067.
The Cardinal appeared to have righted the ship in Game 2 as most of the 3,632 whooped it up with help from that wacky Stanford pep band. A Plummer kill put the Cardinal up 10-9.
Right side Audriana Fitzmorris warmed up, taking a great angle set from Jenna Gray, finalizing for one of her 10 kills for 14-12.
The Huskies, however, fought to tie the set 16-all before Plummer unleashed a wow-factor kill. Out of a Washington timeout, Plummer reached back for a kill and 20-16 Cardinal.
Serving-specialist Sidney Wilson took over at the service line, hammering two of her three aces, the Cardinal up 23-16. Morgan Hentz’ bump-set to Fitzmorris for a kill ended the set.
The Huskies, with 44 assists from setter Ella May Powell, didn’t wilt. Instead, Washington jumped out to a 10-5 lead in Game 3, taking some wind out of the Cardinal’s sail. So did a critical call on the ensuing point. Gray set Madeleine Gates for a kill, but Washington challenged, claiming Gates had hit the net. The point was overturned. An ace by the Huskies and Hambly signaled timeout trying to halt a 7-1 run. The Cardinal got down as much as 21-8, the set, all but, in the books.
“There were times we played the way we wanted to,” Fitzmorris said. “Then there were times we crumpled a bit. We needed to respond in a better way.”
The Huskies had 11 kills from Claire Hoffman, but it was 6-foot-4 middle blocker Lauren Sanders who really hurt the Cardinal, notching 9 kills – most of them off the slide – with a .316 hitting percentage.
Hentz had 22 digs, while Meghan McClure had 5 kills, 7 digs and an ace. Gates, a graduate transfer from UCLA, added 5 kills.
Gray was spectacular with 31 assists, 8 digs, 5 kills, hitting for a .625 percentage. Gray made an incredible diving save early in Game 3, though the Huskies won the point. Gray moved to No. 4 on Stanford’s career assists ladder, passing Carrie Feldman (4,461 assists/1989-92).
Hambly tried to get some more offense going by inserting true freshman middle blocker McKenna Vicini into the lineup in lieu of sophomore Holly Campbell. Vicini, from Lexington Catholic in Lexington, Ky., had a pair of kills, a couple of blocks, hitting .333.
“I was trying to get some offense,” Hambly said “I was trying to get something going.”
The Cardinal will try to get it going on the road at Oregon and Oregon State, Friday and Saturday, respectively.
Washington’s besting of the Cardinal was surprising, considering the Huskies fell in 4 sets at Washington State the previous match.
“Washington is a great team,” Fitzmorris said. “Every team in the Pac-12, you have to show up and give it your all because they’re all going to bring their best game against you. Especially this year, everyone in the Pac-12 has a lot of great talent. There is a lot of returning players across the board. We have to come out stronger in the first set.”
“The Pac-12 is going to be tough,” Hambly added.
Cardinal crunchies: Washington assistant Jason Mansfield is a former women’s volleyball assistant at Stanford under John Dunning … Stanford associate head coach Denise Corlett returns for her 31st season … A first-year assistant under Hambly, Alisha Glass Childress is married to former Stanford men’s hoop star Josh Childress. Glass Childress is a former star setter for Penn State (2007-10), winning three NCAA titles during that span … The Cardinal does not get a rematch with Washington in Pac-12 play, but is at Washington State Nov. 26. Stanford returns home on Oct. 11 to face Arizona at 8 p.m.
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