STANFORD, Calif. - Three players recorded double-digit kills as No. 6 Stanford advanced to the second round of the NCAA Tournament, rolling past New Mexico State 25-20, 25-13, 25-17 on Thursday at Maples Pavilion.
Playing a postseason home game for the 11th consecutive season, the Cardinal (23-6) has now won seven straight NCAA Tournament matches at home. The Aggies (28-6), who entered the match riding a 19-match and 12-set winning streak, lost for the first time since a 3-1 defeat against Texas on Sept. 19.
"I think we did a really good job against (New Mexico State)," Stanford head coach John Dunning said. "They started out taking it to us with their serve, and we were miserable for a little while, but we hung in there. And then I thought our passers did a wonderful job after that--Madi did a great job with our offense."
| NCAA Tournament Central » Maples Pavilion » Dec. 3-4 | ||||
| Match | Date/Time (PT) | Team 1 | Team 2 | Details |
| 1 | Dec. 3 - 4:30 p.m. | (RV) Loyola Marymount 3 | No. 13 Colorado State 1 | Box Score | Quotes |
| 2 | Dec. 3 - 7 p.m. | (8) No. 6 Stanford 3 | New Mexico State 0 | Box Score | Quotes |
| 3 | Dec. 4 - 7 p.m. | (RV) Loyola Marymount | (8) No. 6 Stanford | Live Statistics | Live Stream |
"Our serve got to them the longer the match went, and I thought that was the key. You have to get them to pass (poorly), and we got them to pass out of system a lot."
Stanford benefitted from a balanced attack in the first set, getting six kills from Hodson and four each from Brittany Howard and Merete Lutz en route to a 25-20 victory. WAC champion New Mexico State more than held its own early in the set, rallying back from a 3-0 deficit to take an 8-5 lead. The Cardinal, though, could not be held down for long on its home court, outscoring the Aggies 20-12 the rest of the way. That included a 14-6 spurt to go up 19-14 and force NMSU into its first timeout; a kill from Bradley Nash narrowed the deficit to 22-20, but the Card saw its opponents commit three consecutive errors to close out the set. Stanford's defense was able to keep WAC Player of the Year Gwen Murphy in check, limiting the All-American candidate to two kills and her team to a .162 hitting percentage.
"Having such a diverse offense really opens up the court for us in terms of the other team being able to block us," Hodson said. "It's just really hard when you have a lot of different options coming at you from different parts of the court. It's definitely great to have Britt and Merete up there."
Hodson opened the second set with one of her five kills, and Stanford never trailed thereafter, winning 25-13. Two kills each from the Pac-12 Freshman of the Year and Lutz put Stanford up 6-2, and it maintained at least a three-point cushion the rest of the way. While New Mexico State pulled to within three at 13-10 off a Cardinal service error, it lost 12 of the next 15 points to fall behind 0-2. The Card was even more efficient than it was in the first, posting a .481 hitting percentage on 14 kills and just one error; Lutz added another four kills, and Pac-12 Scholar-Athlete of the Year Jordan Burgess poured in three. And the front line continued to dominate the Aggies, recording five total blocks and holding the Aggies to eight kills.
It was a back-and-forth affair for a majority in the third, with neither side able to grab control of the set in the early going. The turning point came with the score tied at 13: Consecutive kills from Hodson and Burgess gave Stanford either team's first two-point lead at 15-13, and the team did not look back from there, completing the sweep 25-17. New Mexico State coach Mike Jordan took timeouts with his team trailing 18-15 and 21-17, but neither stoppage could stem the Cardinal tide, and the Aggies suffered its first sweep of the season. Though Murphy finally came alive in third, smashing five kills to finish with nine, her effort alone wasn't enough to spring the upset.
Lutz and Hodson led all players with 13 kills apiece, with Howard posting 12. Stanford hit .415 for the match--just off its season high of .424--while holding New Mexico State to nearly 170 points below its average attack percentage (.133). Halland McKenna and Hodson recorded 10 digs apiece while Madi Bugg assisted on 38 of her team's 45 total kills.
"(Our attack) has been balanced all year," Howard said. "We have a lot of talent, and Madi's really good at getting us incorporated at the right times. It's really fun to play with this group of girls every night."
The Cardinal will face Loyola Marymount in Friday's second-round match, which begins at 7 p.m. LMU defeated Colorado State 25-20, 16-25, 25-19, 25-15 earlier Thursday. Stanford is 3-0 all-time against the Lions, last playing the WCC side in the 2000 NCAA Tournament.
"(LMU) has some really good players, and I think their coach is really good," Dunning said. "We know we have our hands full. It's just the next step--you want it to be that way. You want to have to go every night because our goal is to get better. We got better, we played tonight. I'm really proud of (the players)."