THIS WEEK: The No. 7 Stanford women’s volleyball team (13-5, 7-3 Pac-12) plays host to No. 14 Arizona State (17-4, 6-4 Pac-12) on Wednesday, Oct. 28 at 7:30 p.m. and No. 19 Arizona (14-8, 4-6 Pac-12) on Friday, Oct. 30 at 8 p.m.
CATCH THE CARDINAL: Live stats for the matches can be found on the women’s volleyball schedule page on GoStanford.com. Wednesday’s match will air on the Pac-12 Networks, while Friday’s match will air only on Pac-12 Arizona and Pac-12 Bay Area.
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SCOUTING ARIZONA STATE: Arizona State (17-4, 6-4 Pac-12) enters the week ranked 14th nationally after coming off wins over Utah and Colorado last week. The Sun Devils are without the services of career kill leader Macey Gardner, who tore her ACL at Washington on Oct. 9 and will miss the remainder of the season. Picking up the slack are juniors Cassidy Pickrell and BreElle Bailey. Pickrell averages 2.54 kills and 2.48 digs per set, while Bailey adds 2.32 kills and 1.04 blocks per set. Senior middle blocker Whitney Follette is hitting .308 on the season and ranks sixth in the conference with 1.31 blocks per set.
THE SERIES WITH THE SUN DEVILS: Stanford is 65-5 all-time against Arizona State. The Sun Devils defeated the Cardinal earlier this season for the first time in 15 years, winning 3-1 in Tempe on Oct. 2. Prior to that, Stanford had won 28 consecutive meetings between the programs.
SCOUTING ARIZONA: Arizona (14-8, 4-6 Pac-12) is second in the Pac-12 with 16.56 digs and third with 14.31 kills per set. The Wildcats are led by junior outside hitter Kalei Mau who is third in the conference with 4.58 kills and 4.88 points per set. Junior setter Penina Snuka controls the offense with 11.00 assists per set, ranking second in the Pac-12, and leads the Wildcats with 3.12 digs per set. Senior middle blocker Halli Amaro is hitting .345 and notching 1.05 blocks per set.
THE SERIES WITH THE WILDCATS: Stanford holds a 64-6 lead in the series with Arizona. The Cardinal outlasted the Wildcats in five sets in Tucson earlier this season. Redshirt sophomore Merete Lutz led the team with season-highs of 20 kills and eight blocks. Stanford has won 18 straight against Arizona.
AJANAKU OUT: Senior middle blocker Inky Ajanaku, the 2014 Volleyball Magazine National Player of the Year, will miss the 2015 season after having surgery for an injury suffered playing with the U.S. National Team over the summer.
A BUGG’S LIFE: Senior Madi Bugg was tabbed the Pac-12 Setter of the Year for the second straight season in 2014. The Apex, N.C., native recently passed Carrie Feldman (1989-92) for third place on the program’s career assists list with 4,513.
DOUBLE-DOUBLE CLUB: Senior outside hitter Jordan Burgess racked up 19 double-doubles to lead the team in 2014. The human biology major became just the ninth Cardinal player to accumulate more than 1,000 career kills and digs. Burgess now has 1,169 kills and moved into the top-10 in career digs with 1,226 digs.
CAREER MILESTONES: Senior outside hitter Brittany Howard, a three-year starter and all-conference selection, registered her 1,000th career kill at Arizona State (Oct. 2), becoming the 17th player in program history to accomplish that feat. At Utah (Oct. 16) she became the 10th Cardinal player to accumulate 1,000 career kills and digs.
TOP RECRUIT: Freshman opposite Hayley Hodson begins her career at Stanford after being tabbed the No. 1 overall recruit in the nation in 2015 by Volleyball Magazine. Hodson already has national team experience, most recently winning a gold medal at the 2015 Pan America Cup in Lima, Peru. She leads the Cardinal in kills (3.81) and points (4.48) per set this season.
HOME SWEET HOME: Stanford’s senior class is 55-2 at Maples Pavilion. The Cardinal’s only two losses on its home court since 2012 have come at the hands of USC, both in five sets (Oct. 30, 2013 and Sept. 27, 2015). Traditionally, Stanford has always protected its home court. The Cardinal is 204-19 at home under head coach John Dunning.
A STANFORD FIRST: For the first time in program history, three Stanford classmates, Inky Ajanaku (1,010), Jordan Burgess (1,150) and Brittany Howard (1,047), have each registered 1,000 career kills. Other classmates to reach the milestone include Foluke Akinradewo and Cynthia Barboza (‘09) and Rachel Williams and Carly Wopat (‘14).
ALL-CENTURY TEAM: Stanford was well represented when the Pac-12 Networks revealed its Women’s Volleyball All-Century team, leading all schools with nine representative including the Player of the Century Logan Tom (1999-02). Also named to the list were Foluke Akinradewo (middle blocker, 2005-08), Kristin Folkl (outside hitter, 1994-97), Kristin Klein (outside hitter, 1988-91), Ogonna Nnamani (outside hitter, 2001-04), Bev Oden (middle blocker, 1989-92), Kim Oden (middle blocker, 1982-85), Lisa Sharpley (setter, 1994-97), and Kerri Walsh (outside hitter, 1996-99).
TOP SENIOR: Jordan Burgess is one of 30 candidates in the nation for the Senior CLASS Award, which is based on notable achievements in four areas of excellence: community, classroom, character and competition.
FRESHMAN OF THE WEEK: Hayley Hodson has been named the Pac-12 Freshman of the Week four out of the nine weeks this season, including three times in October (Aug. 31, Oct. 5, Oct. 12, Oct. 26), bringing the Cardinal’s total award count to 13 since the award’s inception in 2011 (the most all-time).
NATIONAL POLL: Stanford moved up to No. 7 in the AVCA poll this week after knocking off then-No. 4 Washington last week. USC again received all of the first-place votes, followed by No. 2 Texas, No. 3 Penn State, No. 4 Minnesota and No. 5 Washington. Six Pac-12 squads are ranked in the top 25, including four in the top 8.
BY THE NUMBERS: The Stanford women’s volleyball program has won more NCAA Tournament matches (108), made more Final Four appearances (19) and been in the national championship match (14) more times than any other team in the nation. The Cardinal has captured 19 conference championships and produced 30 or more wins on 17 occasions. Stanford has six NCAA titles and has competed in all 34 NCAA Tournaments, having won all 34 of its first-round matches.
HEAD COACH JOHN DUNNING: Now in his 15th season at the helm of the Cardinal program, head coach John Dunning is one of the most accomplished coaches in the collegiate volleyball world. Dunning has four national championships under his belt, has taken teams to 10 Final Fours and carried six of his 14 Stanford teams to the national title match.
DUNNING BY THE NUMBERS: In 30 years as a head coach, John Dunning is 851-176 (.829), giving him a winning percentage that ranks among the top 5 all-time for Division I coaches. He is 414-74 in his 14-plus seasons on The Farm, leading all active coaches in the conference by winning percentage (.848).