Oct. 7, 2001
Stanford, Calif. - The fourth-ranked Stanford women's volleyball team remained unbeaten in league play with a 3-2 win over seventh-ranked Arizona this afternoon in Maples Pavilion. Game scores were 24-30, 30-24, 30-26, 29-31, 15-10.
The Cardinal improved their record to 13-1, 6-0 in the Pac-10 while the Wildcats fall to 8-3 on the year, 3-3 in league action.
Today's match marked the first time this season the Cardinal have played five games.With game one tied at three-all, Arizona went on a nine-point run to go up 12-3 and force Stanford to use both its timeouts. The Wildcats continued to dominate going up 21-10 on a Cardinal hitting error. With Arizona leading 25-15, Stanford strung together five consecutive points to close within five at 20-25, but could get no closer. The Wildcats reached game point on a kill by Jill Talbot and took game one on a service ace by Talbot.
Stanford regrouped for game two and took an early 9-4 lead forcing an Arizona timeout. The Wildcats would close the gape at 12-14 and take the lead at 15-14 on a Cardinal hitting error. The two teams tied at 20-all and 21-all. Stanford forged ahead to take the 24-21 lead on an Arizona hitting error. The Cardinal pushed to 27-22 on another Wildcat hitting error and would reach game point at 29-24. A kill by freshman Ogonna Nnamani gave Stanford the win at 30-24, evening up the match at one game a piece.
The Cardinal took an 8-5 lead in game three on a block assist by Sara McGee and Ashley Ivy and 11-6 on a kill by Nnamani. Arizona pulled to within one at 10-11 but Stanford rallied off four points to take a 15-11 advantage. Stanford went up 20-14 on a kill by junior Logan Tom but the Wildcats crept to within three at 19-21 on a kill by Shannon Torregrosa. Another Tom kill gave Stanford the 26-22 advantage but Arizona stayed close, pulling to within two at 26-28. Arizona committed back-to-back errors giving the Cardinal the 30-26 victory.
After the Wildcats jumped out to the early 7-2 lead in game three, Stanford fought back to tie the game at 13-all and push ahead to go up 17-13 after a six-point run. The Cardinal continued to press reaching 25-20 on a service ace by Ashley Ivy. But Arizona put together a six-point run of their own to tie the game up at 26-all. The Wildcats reached game point at 29-26 on a Lisa Rutledge kill. Stanford held off three game points to tie the game up at 29-all but eventually fell 29-31.
Stanford raced to a 7-2 advantage in game five on a block solo by Logan Tom. An Arizona hitting error put the Cardinal up 12-6. Stanford reached match point at 14-8 and the Wildcats held off two match points before falling 15-10 on a Tara Conrad kill.
Logan Tom had a match-high 22 kills followed by Ogonna's Nnamani's career-high 19 kills. Sara McGee tied her career-high with 12 blocks on the afternoon. Tara Conrad chipped in with nine kills while sophomore setter Anna Robinson tallied career-high 52 assists and eight digs to lead the Cardinal to victory.
Arizona had four players in double figures for the match including Shannon Torregrosa and Lisa Rutledge who recorded 20 and 18 kills respectively. Setter Dana Burkholder tallied a match-high 61 assists and 14 digs for the Wildcats.