Nov. 6, 1999
Stanford, Calif. - All-American candidates Logan Tom (Salt Lake City, UT/Highland HS) and Kerri Walsh (Saratoga, CA/Archbishop Mitty HS) had 14 kills each to lead #2 Stanford (21-2, 13-1 Pac-10) to a straight-game 15-3, 15-11, 15-7 victory over #16 USC (16-6, 11-4 Pac-10) in Pac-10 women's volleyball action at Maples Pavilion. The Cardinal has now won 20 of its last 21 matches overall and remains a half-game behind #7 UCLA (22-2, 14-1 Pac-10) in the race for the conference title. The Bruins rebounded from last night's loss at Stanford with a victory over California tonight.
"Tonight's match was the mark of a good team," said Stanford head coach Don Shaw about his squad. "We didn't play really well, but we played well enough to still beat a good team like USC. It's never easy to come back after an emotional match like last night's win over UCLA."
"This is going to be a team thing," Shaw continued as he discussed his team's upcoming run at a fifth NCAA title in the 1990's. "In order to win it all, your big-time players must play well but you must also get a great effort and performances from the entire team."
Stanford rolled to an easy 15-3 victory in game one. However, USC started the second game on fire and led 6-2 before Stanford rolled off five straight points to take its first lead of the game at 7-6. The teams would stay close with the game tied at 11-11 before the Cardinal rolled off the last four points of the game to go ahead in the match, 2-0.
USC again jumped out to an early 5-1 lead in the third game before Stanford scored seven unanswered points to go ahead, 8-5. USC scored the next two points to close the gap to 8-7 but the Cardinal then finished off the Women of Troy with the final seven points of the match.
USC junior outside hitters Antoinette Polk (Sacramento, CA/El Camino HS) and Kashi Cormier (Fresno, CA/Bullard HS) were joined by sophomore middle blocker Jennifer Paul (Murrieta, CA/Linfield HS) with nine kills each for the Women of Troy.
Junior middle blocker Jennifer Detmer (Thousand Oaks, CA/Thousand Oaks HS) contributed nine kills and five blocks for the Cardinal, while freshman outside hitter Lindsey Yamasaki (Oregon City, OR/Oregon City HS) had eight kills and a .500 attack percentage. Junior setter Lindsay Kagawa (Albany, CA/Albany HS) had a match-high 48 assists and four blocks.
The Cardinal again reached its magic figure in both hitting percentage (.300) and team blocks (10), surpassing each of those marks for the 16th time this season. Stanford hit .357 and had 11.0 team blocks, while USC hit just .147 with three team swats.
Stanford continues Pac-10 play next Friday and Saturday with matches at Arizona State and Arizona. Both matches begin at 7:00 pm. The Women of Troy host Oregon (7:30 pm, FOX Sports Net) and Oregon State (6:00 pm) next Friday and Saturday.