SALT LAKE CITY – The sixth-ranked Stanford women's volleyball team swept Utah, 25-20, 25-16, 25-21, Friday, at the Huntsman Center in Salt Lake City. The Cardinal moves to 11-4 overall and to 5-2 in the Pac-12, while the Utes fall to 7-11 and 1-6 in the conference.
Stanford out hit Utah .269 to .183 and led in the block column 11.0 to 8.0. The Cardinal also put down seven service aces in the match, getting two each from senior Madi Bugg, sophomore Sarah Benjamin and freshman Halland McKenna.
Opposite Hayley Hodson, the reigning Pac-12 Freshman of the Week, led the Cardinal offensively with a team-high 10 kills to go with four blocks and three digs. Redshirt sophomore middle blocker Merete Lutz pitched in with eight kills and a team-best six blocks.
Senior outside hitter Brittany Howard finished with eight kills, five blocks and five digs, including the 1,000th of her career. The Los Altos, California native became the 17th Cardinal player to reach that milestone and just the 10th member of the program to have amassed 1,000 career kills and digs.
A photo posted by Stanford Women's Volleyball (@stanfordwvb) on Oct 16, 2015 at 7:40pm PDT
Bugg finished just shy of a double-double with 29 assists and nine digs. She also had four kills in the contest. Senior outside hitter Jordan Burgess tallied eight kills on .333 hitting, while McKenna registered a team-high 10 digs for the Cardinal.
Utah was led by sophomore outside hitter Adora Anae's 11 kills and 11 digs. Carly Trueman added eight kills, while Berkeley Oblad finished with six blocks for the Utes.
Stanford heads to Colorado to take on the Buffaloes on Sunday, Oct. 18. First serve is slated for 1 p.m. PT on the Pac-12 Networks.