Dec. 16, 2004
Long Beach, Calif. - Senior outside hitter Ogonna Nnamani had 33 kills, 21 digs and five blocks to lead the sixth-ranked Stanford women's volleyball team to a 3-1 win over No. 5 Washington tonight to advance to the NCAA Championship match on Saturday. Game scores were 30-25, 23-30, 30-27, 30-24. The Cardinal improve to 29-6 on the year while the Huskies end their season at 28-3.
Stanford jumped out to a 9-4 lead on a kill by Kristin Richards early in game one. A block solo by Lizzie Suiter put the Cardinal up 15-10 at the media timeout. Stanford ran off three more consecutive points to take an 18-10 advantage after a solo block by Ogonna Nnamani forced the first Husky timeout. The Cardinal continued to roll going up 21-10 after eight straight points as Washington took their final timeout. Stanford called their first timeout leading 22-13 after three consecutive UW points. Washington closed the gap to 18-24 and 25-28 as the Cardinal called their final timeout. An Ogonna Nnamani kill gave Stanford game point at 29-25 and Lizzie Suiter took care of an overpass to give the Cardinal the 30-25 win.
The two teams battled back and forth early in game two until Washington opened a 10-6 lead as Stanford called their first timeout. The Huskies continued to lead but took their first timeout with a 19-15 advantage after another Ogonna Nnamani block solo. But the Cardinal could get no closer as they were forced to call their final timeout trailing 16-21. Washington reached game point on a service ace and won game two 30-23 on a Stanford service error to tie up the game at one game apiece.
The Cardinal took an early 7-3 lead in game three after back-to-back Ogonna Nnamani kills forced a Husky timeout. Washington tied up the game at 11-all and led 17-16 when Stanford called their first timeout. The Huskies opened up a 21-17 as the Cardinal were forced to call their final timeout after back-to-back Washington kills. Stanford closed the gap to 21-19 and tied it up at 25-all. The two teams traded points until a Husky hitting error gave the Cardinal game point at 29-27. Another Washington miscue gave Stanford the 30-27 win.
The two squads battled back and forth early in game four as the Cardinal held a slim 13-11 lead after a tip by Lizzie Suiter. Washington tied it up at 15-all but Stanford took the advantage again at 17-16 and built a slim 22-19 lead as the Huskies called their final timeout after an Ogonna Nnamani cross-court kill. The Cardinal continued to lead and reached match point on a Jennifer Hucke service ac at 29-23. Ogonna Nnamani closed out the match with her 33rd kill at 30-24.
Kristin Richards chipped in 14 kills, 22 digs and two blocks while Jennifer Hucke added 11 kills and 10 digs. Libero Courtney Schultz had 21 digs while setter Bryn Kehoe notched 57 assists, 12 digs and four blocks.
The winner of this match will face the winner of the USC/Minnesota match for the national championship on Saturday, December 18 at 1 p.m. on ESPN2.