Sept. 5, 2003
Stanford, Calif. - Junior outside hitter Ogonna Nnamani (Normal, IL) notched a match-high 18 kills as the No. 4 Stanford women's volleyball team recorded a 3-0 win over the University of San Diego tonight in Maples Pavilion at the Stanford Invitational. Game scores were 30-25, 30-25, 35-33.
After USD jumped out to a quick 4-2 lead, Stanford came back to score six consecutive points to take the 8-4 advantage on a block by Jennifer Harvey and Ogonna Nnamani. The Toreros would fight back to close to within one, trailing 14-15, but the Cardinal would forge ahead to go up 20-15 on a USD hitting error. San Diego tied the game up at 23-all after back-to-back service aces and again at 25-all after another ace. But the Toreros would get no closer as Stanford scored the last five points in the match to win 30-25 on a kill by Nnamani.
San Diego raced out to a commanding 11-3 lead in game two before the Cardinal closed the gap to 9-13 on a Kristin Richards service ace. The Toreros would push the lead to eight points at 17-9 when Stanford would fight back to tie the game up at 17-all on a block solo by Sara Dukes. The two teams remained close, knotting up at 22-all and again at 24-all until back-to-back blocks from the Cardinal gave Stanford a 26-24 edge. Stanford would score the next three points which included two services aces from Katie Goldhahn, reaching game point at 29-24. Nnamani would close out the game on a kill giving the Cardinal the 30-25 victory.
Game three opened with the Toreros taking a 5-2 lead early on a Stanford hitting error. The Cardinal would close the gap, tying the game at 7-all on a dump by setter Anna Robinson. The game would knot up again at 12-all and the team traded points until Stanford called a timeout at 24-24 after a USD kill. San Diego would take a timeout as the Cardinal took the 28-27 lead and tied the game at 28-all on an SU service error. The Cardinal needed four match points to clinch the game at 35-33 on a San Diego hitting error. USD had two game points before falling to the Cardinal.
Senior middle blocker Jennifer Harvey chipped in a match high 10 blocks on the night as well as four kills. Fellow senior Sara Dukes notched a career-high eight blocks on the evening while adding four kills. Nnamani led the team with eight digs while hitting at a .417 clip. Setter Katie Goldhahn had two service aces and seven digs as well.
For the Toreros, Devon Forester led the team with 15 kills while Cassie Wolpern added 10 kills and eight digs. Jackie Bernardin led the squad with 10 digs on the night with two service aces as well.
Stanford will face No. 3 Florida (5-1) at 5 p.m. on Saturday night at Maples Pavilion while USD will take on No. 7 UC Santa Barbara at approximately 7 p.m. to wrap up the Stanford Invitational. The Gators defeated the Gauchos, 3-0, in the earlier match this evening.
The Stanford/Florida match will be shown on a tape-delayed basis on the College Sports Network (CSTV) on Sunday, September 7 at 6 p.m. ET.