Oct. 19, 2007
Tempe, Ariz. - Cynthia Barboza tallied 15 kills, Franci Girard added seven kills in seven tries, the squad hit a season-best .491 and the Stanford women's volleyball team cruised to its 15th sweep of the season in the home of the Arizona State Sun Devils 30-21, 30-19, 30-14. Stanford improves to 19-1 with the win, and wraps up the first half of Pac-10 play with an 8-1 conference record. Arizona State falls to 11-11, 3-6 Pac-10 with the loss.
In addition to Barboza's team-leading 15 kills, Alix Klineman and Foluke Akinradewo chipped in 13 apiece. Bryn Kehoe notched 48 assists on the team's best hitting night of the year, and libero Gabi Ailes led the team with 12 digs. Stanford out-hit ASU, .491 to .139
The Cardinal started strong in game one, taking the first three points and five of the first six to take an immediate 5-1 lead. The four-point lead held, and Barboza extended it to five with a kill and a block at 13-8. Klineman and Barboza ripped consecutive kills at 18-11, jumpstarting a 5-1 run that put the Cardinal up 21-12. Kehoe and Akinradewo teamed up for a block, Stanford's fifth of the game, to make the gap double-digits at 24-14, and Akinradewo slammed a ball down the middle on the next point to continue the Cardinal onslaught. After a trio of Sun Devil points, Akinradewo put up back-to-back kills to drive the Cardinal to the finish. The junior middle blocker delivered another kill to give Stanford game point at 29-18, and Franci Girard finished things off for the Cardinal, 30-21. Akinradewo led Stanford with six kills and two blocks in the game, and Stanford out-hit ASU, .457 to .154.
The Cardinal took the first point of game two, but the Sun Devils matched each Stanford point, and took a brief lead at 3-2. Stanford quickly swung things back around, and by 9-5, Klineman was capping a series of three straight Stanford points. Akinradewo gave the Cardinal a five-point lead with a kill at 13-8, but the Sun Devils rattled off four straight points to pull back within one, 13-12. Stanford's answer was a 6-2 run that included two kills by junior opposite Erin Waller and pushed the lead out to 19-14. The teams matched each other point for point for another brief period, but the Cardinal hitters were about to catch fire. After an ASU point at 22-18, Akinradewo, Girard, Barboza and Klineman pounded a series of kills at the Sun Devils, then turned their offensive momentum into an 8-1 game-capping run. An Arizona State hitting error gave Stanford game point at 29-19, and Girard tipped down on overpass to end the game, 30-19. Stanford hit .500 in the game to ASU's .212 and was led by six kills from Klineman and five kills from Girard.
Arizona State picked up the opening point in game three, but a 6-1 Stanford run quickly reversed things. Akinradewo had three more kills before Stanford reached five points, and a rash of Sun Devil hitting errors quickly allowed Stanford to jump ahead 10-3. Waller tallied a kill and a block to help Stanford run further away, and at 14-4 Stanford boasted a double-digit advantage for the third straight game. Arizona State managed to whittle the lead to six at 15-9, but Barboza fueled the Stanford offense with five kills in a nine-point span and helped the team regained the ten point lead and push further ahead. A back row kill by Cassidy Lichtman extended the lead to 15 at 26-11, and capped an 11-2 Stanford run that put the team ahead by a commanding margin. A kill by Joanna Evans and a Klineman solo block gave Stanford game point at 29-13, and a decisive Barboza kill, her 14th of the match, finished the game 30-14. Stanford out-hit Arizona State, .514 to .070 in the final game.
Stanford remains on the road next week, meeting No. 7 UCLA and No. 4 USC in back-to-back contests in Los Angeles. The matches are set to begin at 7 p.m. on Friday and Saturday at Pauley Pavilion and the Galen Center, respectively.