NOTES
THIS WEEK: The No. 12 Stanford women's volleyball team (4-2) closes out the nonconference portion of its schedule this weekend, travelling to Saint Mary's (5-4) on Friday, Sept. 16 and Pacific (5-5) on Saturday, Sept. 17. Both matches are slated for 7 p.m.
CATCH THE CARDINAL: Live stats for the matches can be found on the women's volleyball schedule page on GoStanford.com. Both matches will also be streamed live via TheW.tv, the West Coast Conference's digital streaming platform.
SOCIAL MEDIA:
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SCOUTING SAINT MARY'S: Saint Mary's is 5-4 entering the weekend, having dropped three of its last four matches. The Gaels are hitting .219 as a team, while opponents are hitting at a .193 clip. Four Saint Mary's players are averaging more than 2.00 kills per set, led by sophomore outside hitters Sarah Chase (2.97) and Lindsey Knudsen (2.91). The Gaels run a 6-2 offense with junior setter Mary Hernandez and senior setter Hannah Liserra posting 5.53 and 4.53 assits per set, respectively. Junior libero Madi Wilkerson holds down the defense with 4.06 digs per set.
THE SERIES WITH THE GAELS: Stanford leads the all-time series 15-2 versus Saint Mary's. The Cardinal swept the Gaels last season at Maples Pavilion as Merete Lutz had a match-high 10 kills and five blocks. The most recent Saint Mary's victory came on Sept. 28, 2004, a 3-1 win in Moraga, California.
SCOUTING PACIFIC: The Tigers are 5-5 to start the season and will play California on Friday before facing the Cardinal. Pacific has won three of its last four matches, including a five-setter over Oregon State and a 3-1 victory against West Virginia. Senior outside hitter Lexi Elman paces the squad with 3.64 kills and 3.36 digs per set. Freshman middle blocker Ashlyn Fleming adds 2.51 kills on .323 hitting and 1.23 blocks per set. Setter Andie Shelton controls the offense with 9.74 assists per set, while junior libero Katrin Gotterba anchors the defense with 5.08 digs per set.
THE SERIES WITH THE TIGERS: Stanford is 31-22 overall against Pacific, sweeping the Tigers last season at Maples Pavilion. Hayley Hodson had 14 kills and five digs to lead the Cardinal in that contest. Ironically, the last time the Tigers beat the Cardinal, Nov. 7, 2000, John Dunning was the head coach at Pacific and Cardinal associate head coach Denise Corlett was the interim head coach at Stanford. That match was a 3-0 sweep for Pacific in Stockton, California.
NATIONAL POLL: Stanford dropped to No. 12 in the AVCA top 25 this week after splitting its matches at home last weekend. Nebraska was the unanimous No. 1 again this week, while Texas, Minnesota, Kansas and Washington round out the top 5. Six Pac-12 squads are ranked in the top 25 as No. 11 UCLA, No. 18 Colorado, No. 21 USC and No. 24 Oregon join Washington and Stanford.
CLIMBING THE CHARTS: Redshirt senior Inky Ajanaku began her final season on The Farm ranked ninth in program history in total blocks (435). She registered 19 total blocks last weekend moving past Jennifer Detmer (1997-00) and Jenn Harvey (2000-03) into seventh place. She is now 24 blocks away from passing Kerri Walsh (1996-99) for sixth place. Ajanaku's 1.27 career average is tied for the sixth-best mark in school history.
BY THE NUMBERS: 2015 marked Stanford's 35th consecutive NCAA postseason appearance. The Cardinal is one of only two programs in the nation to have appeared in every NCAA Tournament since the NCAA Championship began in 1981 (Penn State is the other). Stanford has won more NCAA Tournament matches (109), made more Final Four appearances (19) and been in the national championship match (14) more times than any other program in the nation.
FAMILIAR FACE: Former Cardinal All-American and U.S. National Team member Cassidy Lichtman joined the coaching staff as an assistant in June. She was a member of four Pac-10 championship teams from (2007-10), reaching the NCAA finals twice (2007, 2008). A versatile athlete, Lichtman played multiple positions during her career (setter, outside hitter, opposite and defensive specialist), racking up 51 career double-doubles, including 14 triple-doubles.
PAC-12 CONFERENCE FINISHES: The Cardinal finished third in the Pac-12 this season for the first time in program history. It marked the 28th top-3 standing in conference play in the past 30 seasons. Stanford has won 16 conference championships in the Pac-10/12 era, and 19 overall in program history. Stanford has claimed seven of the past 10 Pac-12 titles and eight overall under head coach John Dunning.
HEAD COACH JOHN DUNNING: Head coach John Dunning is one of the most accomplished and decorated 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 15 Stanford teams to the national title match.
DUNNING BY THE NUMBERS: In 31-plus years as a head coach, John Dunning is 865-180 (.828), giving him a winning percentage that ranks among the top 5 all-time for Division I coaches. He is 428-78 in his 15+ seasons on The Farm, leading all active coaches in the conference by winning percentage (.846).