Sept. 11, 2004
Stanford, Calif. - Senior outside hitter Ogonna Nnamani tallied a match-high 29 kills as the 12th-ranked Stanford women's volleyball team fell to No. 7 Penn State, 3-2 tonight in Burnham Pavilion at the Stanford Invitational. Game scores were 29-31, 30-23, 25-30, 30-26, 12-15. The Cardinal fall to 3-2 on the season while the Nittany Lions improve to 5-0.
Stanford led most of game one, reaching game point at 29-23 on a kill by Kristin Richards. But PSU fought back scoring six consecutive points to tie the game at 29-all. Two more Penn State points gave them the 31-29 come from behind win.
Game two remained close between the two teams until the Cardinal took a 21-19 lead after a PSU hitting error. They extended the lead to 25-19 on a kill by Richards. Stanford reached game point at 29-23 and this time close the door at 30-23 on a block by Franci Girard and Bryn Kehoe.
Game three was also a close game until Stanford took the 22-19 edge on a kill by Ogonna Nnamani. Penn State rallied to take the 25-24 lead on a service ace and reached game point at 29-25 on a kill by Ashley Pederson. The Nittany Lions won game three 30-25 on a Cardinal hitting error.
Penn State took their first timeout of game four trailing 11-14 after a kill by Jennifer Hucke. Stanford continued to hold the slim lead as PSU took their second timeout at 23-25 after a hitting error. Hucke got the Cardinal to game point at 29-25 with a kill and closed out the game with another kill at 30-26 to force a game five.
Stanford posted the early 5-1 lead in game five but PSU closed the gap at 9-10, forcing a Cardinal timeout. They tied the game at 12-all and took their first lead of the game at 13-12 with a block. A ball-handling error by Stanford gave the Nittany Lions match point at 14-12 and they closed out the game with a kill at 15-12.
Jennifer Hucke tallied a career-high 20 kills for the Cardinal while teammate Kristin Richards also contributed 20 kills and a career-high 28 digs. Franci Girard and Lizzie Suiter matched their career highs in blocks with eight and nine respectively. Courtney Schultz notched a career-high 19 digs as well. Setter Bryn Kehoe had a career-high 70 assists for the Cardinal.
Penn State was led by Kate Price's career-high 28 kills and libero Kaleena Walters 26 digs.
In tonight's early match, Eastern Washington defeated San Francisco, 3-1. Game scores were 24-30, 30-28, 30-24, 30-20. The Eagles were led by Megan Kitterman's 20 kills and Andrea Verdoljak's 12 digs. Lizzy Mellor contributed 15 kills while Keva Sonderen had 14. The Dons were led by Stephanie Voelckers' 15 kills and Erin Fujimoto's 14 digs.
Stanford will close out tournament play against San Francisco tomorrow at 5 p.m. at Burnham Pavilion. Eastern Washington will face Penn State in the 7 p.m. match.