Oct. 4, 2007
Corvallis, Ore. - Led by junior Cynthia Barboza's 17 kills and ninth double-double of the year (17 kills, 13 digs), the Stanford women's volleyball team continued its 2007 run in Corvallis, Ore. tonight, taking down the Oregon State Beavers 30-21, 30-20, 30-25 at Gill Coliseum. The win was the 15th straight for the undefeated Cardinal and marked the squad's 11th sweep of the year. Stanford (15-0, 4-0 Pac-10) hit at its best clip since conference play began (.342) and put up a season-high 15 blocks. Oregon State (8-9, 1-4 Pac-10) hit just .099 in the loss.
Junior middle blocker Foluke Akinradewo had a notable night for the Cardinal, tallying 15 kills, including the 1,000th of her career, and a team-high seven blocks. Freshman Gabi Ailes put up double-figure digs (14) for the 14th match in a row. Senior setter Bryn Kehoe climbed 44 assists closer to the program's career record, and now stands just 117 assists shy of becoming the school's all-time leader. Sophomore outside hitter Rachel Rourke led the Beavers with 20 kills on the night.
Stanford took control of game one early, using Akinradewo's 998th and 999th career kills and an Akinradewo-Kehoe block to take a quick 5-1 lead. Back-to-back kills by Barboza helped push the score out to 9-3, and, before long, the junior outside hitter was pounding down a kill to make it 18-10. The lead became double-digits on a cross-court kill by senior Franci Girard at 20-10, and sophomore Janet Okogbaa delivered two blocks and a kill to help Stanford maintain that lead at 24-14. Stanford hit its largest lead on a Beaver hitting error at 26-15, and again on a block by freshman Cassidy Lichtman at game point, 29-18. After three OSU points, Akinradewo made her milestone kill count, pounding No. 1,000 straight to the floor to finish off game one, 30-21. Barboza led the team with six kills in the game, and Stanford out-hit Oregon State .314 to .041.
The Beavers saw their first leads of the match early in game two, but it wasn't long before Stanford righted the ship and was back on top. Ailes served an ace to give the Cardinal its first lead at 8-7, and Stanford cruised from there. Ailes' ace became the second step in a 5-0 Cardinal run, and Stanford soon had an 11-7 lead. Rourke, who had eight of the Beavers' 14 kills in game one, added two more to close the gap to one at 14-13, but that was as close as OSU could come. Led by Barboza, the Cardinal calmly put together an 8-2 run that stretched the lead to 22-15. Three points later, Stanford strung together three consecutive points to establish firm control at 26-17, and Alix Klineman put the team one point away with a kill at 29-20. Game two ended at 30-20 on a block by Okogbaa and Klineman, Stanford's 12th team block of the night. Barboza added five more kills in the game to lead the team, and the Cardinal out-hit the Beavers .375 to .026.
Akinradewo was unstoppable in game three, shelling the Beavers with four kills in the first eight points and adding her sixth block of the night to propel Stanford to a 7-2 opening lead. The Cardinal maintained the five-point lead, then surged ahead to 15-8 on another pair of consecutive kills by the junior middle blocker. Stanford's lead was seven again after two Barboza kills at 23-16, but Rourke delivered back-to-back kills of her own to help OSU cut the lead to three at 24-21. After seeing the lead cut to three once again at 26-23, the Cardinal raced ahead and finished things. Klineman gave Stanford game point at 29-23, and two points later, a block by Akinradewo and junior Erin Waller gave Stanford the win, 30-25. Akinradewo had eight of her 15 kills in the final game, and Stanford once again out-hit Oregon State, .340 to .204.
Stanford will finish its Oregon road trip tomorrow, taking on the 19th-ranked Oregon Ducks at McArthur Court in Eugene at 7 p.m.