Sept. 15, 2007
New Haven, Conn. - The No. 2 Stanford women's volleyball team surged early and rallied back late to outlast the No. 3 Penn State Nittany Lions, 30-23, 23-30, 27-30, 30-28, 15-9 in a five-game championship thriller at the Courtyard by Marriott Yale Classic in New Haven, Conn. The Cardinal, led by the 21 kills of junior outside hitter Cynthia Barboza, earned its 11th-straight win and improved to 11-0 on the year, while Penn State fell to 8-2.
Barboza once again stepped up for the Cardinal when it counted, notching her sixth double-double of the year with 21 kills and 10 digs. Senior setter Bryn Kehoe also recorded her sixth double-double, matching season highs with 61 assists and 12 digs. Junior middle blocker Foluke Akinradewo added 15 kills and four blocks, while freshman Alix Klineman tallied 14 kills for her eighth career match in double-figures. Barboza was named the tournament MVP, while Akinradewo and Kehoe also nabbed spots on the All-Tournament Team. Stanford out-hit Penn State .279 to .268.
Junior outside hitter Nicole Fawcett was one of five Penn State players in double-figures, and led the team with 28 kills. Sophomore outside hitter Megan Hodge followed with 20 kills, and redshirt freshman Blair Brown tallied a career-high 12 kills. Junior Christa Harmotto and freshman Arielle Wilson added 11 and 10 kills, respectively.
The win improves Stanford to 11-0 on the year and completes Stanford's first undefeated preseason since 1994. The Cardinal enters conference play having topped seven ranked opponents and won 33 of 37 games.
Barboza quickly set the tone of game one with a decisive kill for the first point of the match, and the Cardinal jumped out to an early 5-2 lead. The Nittany Lions rattled off three straight points to knot the game at five, but an ensuing Franci Girard kill gave Stanford a lead it would never relinquish. Stanford edged away, taking its first three-point lead on a Nittany Lion error at 14-11. Barboza pounded two more kills to fuel a 5-1 run that put Stanford up 21-15, and the Nittany Lions couldn't recover. Erin Waller and Girard put up Stanford's only block of the game to take a 25-19 lead and the Cardinal battled to the finish. Klineman put an overpass to the floor to give Stanford game point at 29-22, and Barboza slammed a ball down from the back row to finish things at 30-23. Stanford never trailed and allowed Penn State just the one tie at 5-5. Barboza led the team with seven kills in the game, and for the third time of the weekend, the Cardinal hit over .500 (.517) in a game. Penn State recorded eight hitting errors and hit .263.
After taking a pounding in the first game, the Nittany Lions were ready to fight back. Stanford collected the first point of game two on a Penn State handling error, but by 3-2, the Nittany Lions had the lead and the momentum. Stanford came back to tie twice, and briefly took a lead at 8-6, but Fawcett caught fire and Penn State answered with a 6-2 run to go up 13-11. The Cardinal kept it close, bringing the game into three ties before Penn State took over the lead for good at 17-16. Akinradewo tried to keep Stanford in the game with two late kills, but the Nittany Lions took the momentum with an 8-2 run that gave them a six-point lead, 24-18. Stanford got two back, but four-straight Penn State points put Stanford at a 28-20 disadvantage, its worst of the match. Girard and Kehoe recorded kills to pull the Cardinal back within five at 28-23, but Fawcett and Hodge pounded consecutive kills to take game two, 30-23. Stanford was out-hit .353 to .077, and allowed Fawcett ten kills in game two alone.
Fawcett and the Nittany Lions were still on fire at the start of game three, and Stanford struggled to halt the opponent's momentum. The Cardinal took an initial lead at 5-3, but Penn State rattled off four straight points to take a two-point lead at 7-5. The Nittany Lions continued to pull further away, and after a 4-1 run that included two kills by Fawcett, the team had a five-point lead at 19-14. On her second play of the match, Janet Okogbaa teamed up with Waller for a big Stanford block that was the first sign the momentum swing to come. The Cardinal strung together three straight points to cut the lead to two at 19-17, but Penn State pulled back out to a five-point advantage at 25-20. A kill by Akinradewo swung the momentum back towards the Cardinal, and Stanford put together a 7-2 run to tie the game at 27-27. Fawcett and Wilson delivered back-to-back kills to give Penn State game point, however, and a Stanford attacking error finished things off at 30-27. Stanford was out-hit .286 to .277 in the game, and faced just its third deficit of the season. Yet, Stanford had taken the momentum at the end of game three and was ready to battle.
Stanford gave up the first point of game four, but Barboza ripped a kill to tie the game at 2-2 and gave Stanford the energy it needed to put up a fight to the finish. Akinradewo and Kehoe teamed up for a block and Klineman drilled a kill on the next point to give the Cardinal its first lead at 4-3. The game went into three ties, before Barboza pounded another ball through the Penn State block to give Stanford a two-point lead at 7-5. The Nittany Lions came back to tie the game six more times, and took a brief lead on a Brown kill at 15-14. Stanford stormed back, however, and kills by Alex Fisher and Akinradewo gave the Cardinal back the lead at 16-15. The lead changed again on a Cardinal attacking error, when Penn State took a 20-19 lead after three consecutive Nittany Lion points. Stanford pulled back into a tie at 22-22 and strung together three straight points of its own to take a 24-22 lead. Penn State tied twice more, with the last coming at 26-26 on a kill by Wilson, but a Nittany Lion missed serve and a block by Barboza and Akinradewo put Stanford up two, 28-26. Another missed served gave Stanford game point at 29-27 and, after a Hodge kill, Akinradewo pounded down her 12th kill of the match to give Stanford the game four win, 30-28. Stanford was out-hit for the third game in a row, .325 to .286, but capitalized on seven Penn State hitting errors and put up five blocks to come out on top. Barboza recorded seven kills in the game.
Stanford controlled game five from the start, and surged forward with momentum reminiscent of game one. Barboza set the tone with her 21st kill of the match to start things off, and Akinradewo and Klineman added back-to-back kills to put Stanford up 4-2. Penn State came back to tie at four and then five, but Stanford capitalized on a pair of Nittany Lion errors to take a 7-5 lead. Fawcett drove her 28th and final kill cross-court to pull the Nittany Lions within one at 8-7, but that was the closest they would come. Waller stepped up with two big plays for Stanford, giving the team a lead Penn State couldn't recover from. The junior opposite hitter pounded a kill, and then blocked Fawcett to fire up the Cardinal at 10-7. Klineman added a kill to cap three straight Stanford points at 11-7, and a pair of Akinradewo kills built another 3-0 run a point later to make it 14-8. The game ended on a Nittany Lion service error, 15-9.
Stanford returns to the court next Friday, opening Pac-10 play against the California Golden Bears in Berkeley. First serve is set for 7 p.m. at Haas Pavilion.