Dec. 15, 2001
San Diego, Calif. - Junior outside hitter Logan Tom had a match-high 25 kills and 12 digs as the Stanford women's volleyball team swept No. 1 Long Beach State, 3-0, to win the 2001 National Championship before a crowd of 10,067 at Cox Arena in San Diego, Calif. Game scores were 31-29, 30-28, 30-25.
Stanford notched its NCAA record fifth national championship with the victory while first-year head coach John Dunning became the first Division I coach to win a national championship at two different schools (Pacific '85 and '86). He also becomes the only coach to win a national championship in his first year as head coach (Pacific '85 and Stanford '01).
Game one remained close between the two teams until Stanford built a 20-14 lead. Long Beach State would fight back to take the lead at 23-22 on a block by Cheryl Weaver and Tayyiba Haneef. The Cardinal would regain the lead and go up 26-24 on a kill by Ogonna Nnamani but the 49ers rallied off four consecutive points to go up 28-26. A Stanford service error gave LBSU game point at 29-27. The Cardinal held off two game points to tie the game at 29-all on a kill by Logan Tom and reached game point on a 49er hitting error. A Logan Tom kill gave Stanford the 31-29 come-from-behind win. Logan Tom had 10 kills in game one for the Cardinal. The game one loss marked the first time Long Beach dropped a game one during the 2001 season.
Stanford built an 11-7 lead in game two on a block by Sara McGee and Logan Tom then extended the lead to 20-13 on an Ogonna Nnamani kill. The Cardinal reached 27-20 on a Tom kill. A Nnamani kill gave the Cardinal game point at 29-23. But Long Beach State would rally off five consecutive points to get to 28-29 before a 49er service error gave Stanford the 30-28 win.
The Cardinal took a 13-9 lead early in game three but Long Beach closed to within one at 14-15 by the first timeout. The game remained tight until Stanford went on a three point run to go ahead 25-21 on a Logan Tom service ace. The Cardinal pushed forward to 28-24 on an Ogonna Nnamani kill, forcing a Long Beach State timeout. A Tom kill put Stanford at game and match point at 29-24. The Cardinal block came up big to close out the game and match at 30-25.
Stanford's Ogonna Nnamani contributed 19 kills while hitting at a .469 clip. Senior setter Robyn Lewis tallied 56 assists and five digs. Rightside hitter Ashley Ivy added six kills, eight digs and three service aces. Middle blocker Tara Conrad led the match with six blocks on the afternoon.
The Cardinal had four players named to the all-tournament team including Robyn Lewis, Ashley Ivy and Ogonna Nnamani. National Player of the Year Logan Tom was tabbed MVP.
Logan Tom recorded her 134th service ace during the match to tie with Barbra Fontana (19-83-86) for second all-time in the Cardinal record books. Tom also ends this season with 621 kills - a single season Stanford record. The 33 wins for the Cardinal ties the school record for most wins in a season (1980, '97 and '01).