Oct. 24, 1999
HONOLULU - Seventh-ranked Stanford (17-2) proved its among the nation's best women's volleyball teams with a dominating straight-game (15-9, 15-12, 15-10) victory at formerly unbeaten and #2 Hawaii (17-1) on Saturday evening in front of a sellout crowd of 10,252 at the Stan Sheriff Center. The Cardinal have now beaten two of the nation's top three teams this week, including last Tuesday's dramatic 3-2 home win over #3 Pacific. Overall, Stanford has won 16 of its last 17 matches and six in a row. Stanford has also beaten the highly-regarded Wahine five straight times and ended a 32-match home win streak for Hawaii.
The new weekly USA Today/AVCA women's volleyball poll will be released late Monday and the Cardinal has reason to believe it will be ranked second.
Freshman outside hitter Logan Tom (Salt Lake City, UT/Highland HS) had another outstanding match, leading the Cardinal with match-highs of 14 kills and 14 digs to go with a .333 attack percentage. Senior outside hitter Kerri Walsh (Saratoga, CA/Archbishop Mitty HS) added 11 kills and 10 blocks, while junior middle blocker Jennifer Detmer (Thousand Oaks, CA/Thousand Oaks HS) contributed 10 kills, a team-high six blocks and a .471 attack percentage. Junior setter Lindsay Kagawa (Albany, CA/Albany HS) had a match-high 44 assists.
The match started out with Hawaii taking an early 6-0 lead in the first game and stirring the fans into a frenzy. However, the Cardinal steadied and scored nine of the next 11 points to take its first lead of the game at 9-8. Hawaii would score the next point to knot the score at 9-9 before Stanford rolled off the final six points of the game for a 15-9 win. Tom had five kills in the opening game, while Detmer added four as the Cardinal outhit the Wahine (.268 - .073).
The Cardinal jumped out to a 6-3 lead in the second game before Hawaii came back to tie the score at 7-7. Stanford then surged ahead again to take a 12-7 lead. However, the Wahine rallied for four straight points and trailed just 12-11 before Stanford regained control and scored three of the game's final four points to win 15-12. Tom had five more kills in the second game, while Walsh added four.
Stanford dominated most of the third game, trailing for the last time at 2-1. The key was three straight Stanford points that extended a close 10-7 lead to a 13-7 margin. After a pair of Wahine points cut the gap to 13-9, Stanford picked up the final two points and the exciting victory.
Hawaii was led by junior outside hitter Jessica Sudduth (Yorba Linda, CA/UC Santa Barbara) with nine kills and eight digs. Senior outside hitter Heather Bown (Yorba Linda, CA/Esperanza HS) was held to eight kills and a dismal -.037 attack percentage. A first-team All-American last year, Bown was averaging 4.14 kills per game and had a .388 attack percentage entering the match.
The Cardinal (9-1 Pac-10) are currently 1.5 games behind first-place and #6 UCLA (19-1, 11-0 Pac-10) in the Pac-10 race. The Cardinal visit Oregon and Oregon State next Thursday and Friday before welcoming the Bruins to Maples Pavilion for a rematch and first-place showdown on Friday, November 5 (7:30 pm). The match will be televised live on FOX Sports Net. UCLA defeated Stanford in four games (15-8, 15-9, 9-15, 15-3) when the teams played in Los Angeles on October 7.