Oct. 24, 2003
Pullman, Wash. - Junior outside hitter Ogonna Nnamani tallied a match-high 24 kills as the 10th-ranked Stanford women's volleyball team defeated Washington State 3-2 tonight in Bohler Gym. Game scores were 20-30, 30-24, 30-24, 28-30, 15-10.
Stanford improves to 15-5, 8-3 in Pac-10 play while the Cougars fall to 7-14 overall, 3-8 in league action.
Washington State raced out to a 6-0 lead to open game one before a dump by Katie Goldhahn put the Cardinal on the board. The Cougars continued to roll building a 10-3 lead as Stanford took its first timeout. Trailing, 6-13, the Cardinal scored four consecutive points to close the gap to 10-14 but could get no closer. Stanford took its second and final timeout at 17-23 after a Cardinal ball-handling error. WSU closed out the game with a 30-20 win. Stanford hit only .122 and were out-blocked one to three.
Play remained close in the beginnings of game two as the teams traded points. With the game knotted at nine-all, the Cardinal strung together three consecutive points to take a 12-9 lead after a block solo by Kristin Richards. But the Cougars fought back pulling to within one at 16-17 to force a Stanford timeout. With the Cardinal leading 26-24, Stanford rattled off three straight points to reach game point on a Cougar hitting error. A block by Jennifer Harvey and Richards closed out game two at 30-24. The Cardinal hit .364 with five blocks to even the match at one game apiece. Jennifer Hucke notched five kills and four digs to lead the squad.
Game three went back and forth as the two teams traded points until the Cougars surged ahead to claim a 9-6 advantage. Stanford tied up the game at 13-all and took a 15-14 lead on a service ace by Kristin Richards. The two squads tied it up again at 18-all and the Cougars grabbed the 20-18 lead as the Cardinal called a timeout. Stanford came out of the break to score the next four points to take a 22-20 lead. The Cougars would call their first timeout trailing 24-21 after a WSU hitting error. The Cardinal reached game point at 29-24 on a Washington State service error and won 30-24 on a kill by Ogonna Nnamani. Stanford hit .361 while the Cougars hit .190 for the game.
WSU jumped out to an early 5-2 lead before the Cardinal tied it up at five-all on a kill by Ogonna Nnamani. Stanford continued to push forward taking the 10-7 advantage on a block by Sara Dukes and Nnamani. A block by Jennifer Harvey and Katie Goldhahn gave the Cardinal the 15-11 lead heading into the media timeout. Washington State scored the next four points to tie the game at 15-all after four straight Stanford errors. The game was again knotted at 20-all as the Cougars asserted themselves to grab a 23-21 advantage to force the final Cardinal timeout. With the two squads tied again at 25-all and 27-all before WSU reached game point at 29-28. The Cougars forced a game five with a 30-28 win.
Stanford staked an early 4-2 and took an 8-5 lead into the media timeout after a kill by Ogonna Nnamani. The Cardinal continued to push reaching game and match point at 14-10 on a kill by Kristin Richards. Leahi Hall recorded a service ace to give Stanford the 15-10 victory.
Four Cardinals ended the night in double figures in kills while Katie Goldhahn notched a career-high 20 digs. Kristin Richards added 15 kills, 11 digs and five blocks while Sara Dukes had 10 kills and four blocks.
Stanford returns to the friendly confines of Maples Pavilion next week in continued league play as they face Arizona on Thursday, October 30 at 7 p.m. and Arizona State on Friday, October 31, also at 7 p.m.