STANFORD, Calif. – For the first time since 2000, the Stanford women's volleyball team dropped a match to Utah, falling 24-26, 25-20, 23-25, 19-25, Sunday in Maples Pavilion.
The Cardinal is now 10-4 overall and 4-2 in the Pac-12, while the Utes move to 13-4 and 4-2 in the conference. Stanford outhit Utah .262 to .253 and held a 16.5 to 8.0 advantage in blocks.
Utah had four players register double-digit kills and tallied six aces as a team. Junior outside hitter Adora Anae recorded a match-high 20 kills, 15 digs and four aces. Junior Carly Trueman added 13 kills on .375 hitting, while Tawnee Luafalemana hit .476 with 11 kills and four blocks.
For Stanford, redshirt junior Merete Lutz led the team with 13 kills on .345 hitting and nine blocks. Redshirt senior Inky Ajanaku added 11 kills, hitting .474, nine blocks, three digs and an ace, while freshman Audriana Fitzmorris posted 12 kills and three blocks.
Redshirt junior Ivana Vanjak totaled nine kills on .316 hitting, while freshman Kathryn Plummer totaled six kills, 12 digs and a career-high two aces.
Senior setter Kelsey Humphreys finished with 26 assists and six digs, while freshman setter Jenna Gray collected 23 assists and three digs. Freshman libero Morgan Hentz racked-up a match-best 17 digs, while sophomore Halland McKenna notched seven digs.
Stanford drops to 2-2 on the year when its opponent wins the first set and 10-2 when outhitting its opponent. Utah picked up just its second win over the Cardinal all-time.
The Cardinal remains on The Farm next weekend, playing host to Arizona on Friday, Oct. 14 at 8 p.m. and Arizona State on Saturday, Oct. 15 at 7 p.m. Friday's match will be televised on Pac-12 Network.