Oct. 28, 2006
Tucson, Ariz. - The Stanford Cardinal (19-2, 10-1) cruised past Arizona (10-13, 1-10) tonight, with a 3-0 win over the Wildcats at the McKale Center in Tucson. Sophomore middle blocker Foluke Akinradewo nailed down 17 kills and finished with an .850 hitting percentage to lead the Cardinal to its ninth-straight Pac-10 win. Senior Kristin Richards tallied 14 kills and 20 digs, while sophomores Erin Waller and Cynthia Barboza registered six kills apiece.
Stanford rattled off three-straight points to begin game one, with senior Nji Nnamani, Akinradewo and Richards pounding down a series of kills. The Wildcats responded with a 3-1 run to pull within one, 4-3, but Stanford followed with a 3-1 spurt of its own to make it 7-4. The Wildcats pulled back within one on a pair of kills by Brooke Buringrud, but Stanford pulled away for good with a 3-1 run capped by a quick attack by junior Franci Girard. After a kill by Buringrud made it 10-8, the Cardinal took four straight points, extending the lead to 14-8 on a Nnamani ace. A Richards kill and a pair of errors by the Wildcats brought the score to 17-10 and Akinradewo pounded down an overpass to make it 18-10. The Wildcats pulled within seven on a block by Dominique Lamb and Randy Goodenough but Stanford took back a nine-point advantage on an Akinradewo kill, 24-15. Barboza put down back-to-back kills to give Stanford a 27-16 advantage, and after an Arizona point, setter Bryn Kehoe picked up a kill to make it 28-17. Arizona was in the net on the ensuing Girard attack and the game ended on an ace by Akinradewo, 30-17.
Stanford jumped out to an early 5-1 lead in the second game, prompting an Arizona timeout. The teams traded a series of points but a Stanford block by Barboza and senior Lizzie Suiter extended the Stanford lead to 9-3. After a Wildcat block, Barboza drove down a kill and Kehoe followed with an ace to make it 11-4. A 3-1 run by the Wildcats pulled them back within five, but two kills by freshman Janet Okogbaa and one by Akinradewo, gave Stanford back its seven-point advantage, 15-8. The Wildcats responded with a 5-0 run, however, and pulled within two, 15-13. Stanford answered with five straight points of its own, including three kills by Akinradewo and an ace by Richards, to make it 20-13. After an Arizona kill, Stanford rallied with a 4-1 run to jump out to a 24-15 lead. A series of Arizona kills cut the lead to 26-19, but Stanford rallied with consecutive kills by Akinradewo and a kill by Richards to get within a point of the win, 29-19. Nnamani finished game with an ace, 30-19.
Buringrud served an ace for the Wildcats to start game one, giving Arizona its first lead of the match, 1-0. The home team rattled off three more points to take a 4-1 lead, but the Cardinal came back and tied the game on an ace by Waller, 4-4. A Cardinal attack error and a Wildcat kill put Arizona up by two but Akinradewo pounded down a kill and followed with an ace to give the Cardinal its first lead of the third game, 7-6. Jacy Norton and Whitney Dosty put up a block for Arizona to bring the game back into a tie, but a 4-1 Cardinal run capped by a kill by Girard put the Cardinal in charge for good. Two Stanford blocking errors allowed the Wildcats to creep within two, 12-10, but Akinradewo pounded down a kill to spur an 8-1 Cardinal run that took the Wildcats out of contention, and gave the Cardinal a 20-11 advantage. Norton and Stephanie Butkus put up a block to stop the Cardinal assault, but Waller and senior Michelle Mellard notched kills to jumpstart another 4-1 run by the Cardinal. Waller and Mellard then put up a block to give the Cardinal a 26-14 advantage, its largest of the game. Arizona won back four points on a trio of blocks but a kill by Richards from the back row halted the Wildcat momentum and put the Cardinal ahead, 27-19. Akinradewo notched her 17th kill to put the Cardinal within two points of the win and a Waller kill and an Arizona attack error ended the game and the match, 30-19.
Kehoe collected 46 assists in the win. Akinradewo had three service aces, while Waller and Nnamani each had two.
The Cardinal travels across the Bay next weekend to take on rival California for the second time this season. First serve is set for Friday at 7 p.m. at Haas Pavilion in Berkeley.