Sept. 4, 2001
State College, Pa. - The ninth-ranked Stanford women's volleyball team stunned No. 4 Penn State with a 3-1 win in State College, Pa., this evening before a crowd of 2,580. Game scores were 28-30, 30-26, 30-16, 30-23. The Cardinal improve to 4-0 on the season, while the Lions fall to 3-1.
Stanford came out strong in game one, building a 9-5 lead on a kill by freshman Ogonna Nnamani. But Penn State inched back to 8-9 before the Cardinal rallied again to push ahead 15-9 on a Logan Tom kill. With Stanford leading 18-13, the Lions roared back with six unanswered points to go up 19-18. At 22-all, PSU strung together four points to pull ahead 26-22 on a Stanford hitting error. The Cardinal then pulled within one at 25-26 on a PSU hitting error. But the Nittany Lions would reach game point at 29-26 on a Cardinal service error. Stanford held off two game points to reach 28-29 but a PSU kill would give the Lions the win at 30-28.
In game two, Stanford once again took an early lead at 6-3 on a block by Ogonna Nnamani. But once again Penn State kept the game close and tied it up at 11-all. The two teams battled back and forth, tying five more times, culminating at 26-all. The Cardinal then took charge of the game, stringing together four points to even the match at one game a piece. A block by Jennifer Harvey and setter Robyn Lewis gave Stanford the 30-26 victory.
The Cardinal came out of the break ready to play and dominated game three. Early kills and solid blocking put Stanford up 13-3. The team continued to serve tough and block well, going to game point at 29-16 on a Tara Conrad and Ashley Ivy block. A kill by Logan Tom would give Stanford the 30-16 win. If the game had been scored using last year's side-out scoring method, the score would have been 15-3.
Penn State started quickly in game four, building a 4-1 lead on a Lion kill. The two teams traded points until, at 9-7, PSU put together a three-point run to go up 12-7. After a timeout by Stanford head coach John Dunning, the Cardinal scored eight unanswered points to go up 15-12. Stanford would extend their lead to 22-13. The Cardinal reached 26-17 on a Logan Tom kill and got to match point on an Ashley Ivy kill at 29-22. A Penn State hitting error would give Stanford the 30-23 win.
For the Cardinal, Logan Tom led the match with 19 kills. Freshman Ogonna Nnamani added 16 kills, followed by Ashley Ivy's 10. Sophomore Jennifer Harvey led the match with seven blocks while senior Tara Conrad added six blocks. Senior setter Robyn Lewis had 53 assists, 12 digs and three blocks. Three Stanford players recorded double-doubles on the night.
For Penn State, Katie Schumacher had 17 kills and 16 digs to lead the Nittany Lions.
Stanford continues its road swing with a match against No. 25 Texas on Friday, September 7 in College Station, Texas.