THIS WEEK: The No. 12 Stanford women's volleyball team (17-7, 11-5 Pac-12) hits the road for its final regular season road trip at Arizona State (9-19, 2-14 Pac-12) on Friday, Nov. 18 at 4:30 p.m. PT and Arizona (16-12, 8-8 Pac-12) on Sunday, Nov. 20 at 11 a.m. PT.
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 televised on Pac-12 Bay Area and Pac-12 Arizona.
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SCOUTING ARIZONA STATE: The Sun Devils are 2-14 in the Pac-12, having lost their last five matches. ASU is hitting just .180 on the season and allowing its opponents to hit .249. Junior middle blocker Oluoma Okaro leads the conference with 0.35 aces per set, while ranking 10th with 1.10 blocks per set. She also leads ASU with 2.64 kills and a .277 attack percentage. Junior libero Halle Harker is eighth in the league with 3.78 digs per set, while sophomore Kylie Pickrell is eighth with 6.81 assists per set.
THE SERIES WITH THE SUN DEVILS: Stanford is 67-5 all-time versus Arizona State. The Cardinal swept the Sun Devils at home on Oct. 15. Stanford hit a season-high .422, playing its first full match in a 5-1 this season. The last ASU victory came on Oct. 2, 2015, a four-set victory in Tempe.
SCOUTING ARIZONA: The Wildcats enter the week at .500 (8-8) in the conference, sitting in eighth place. Arizona is third in the Pac-12 in aces (1.21) and digs (15.96), and ranks sixth in opponent hitting percentage (.191). Senior setter Penina Snuka is second in the Pac-12 with 10.56 assists per set and fifth with 0.28 aces per set. She also averages 3.11 digs per set for the Wildcats. Sophomore outside hitter Kendra Dahlke is third in the league with 3.99 kills and 4.43 points per set, while senior outside hitter Kalei Mau is fourth in kills (3.98) and sixth in points (4.35).
THE SERIES WITH THE WILDCATS: Stanford holds a 65-7 all-time lead in the series with Arizona. The Wildcats won the first meeting between the two squads this season, snapping a 19-match losing streak to the Cardinal. Kendra Dahlke had a match-high 22 kills for Arizona, while Kalei Mau added 17 kills and 14 digs. Kathryn Plummer paced Stanford with 12 kills and a career-high 17 digs, while libero Morgan Hentz tallied 22 digs.
LAST TIME OUT: Stanford split its home matches last week, defeating USC in four sets before falling in five to then-No. 13 UCLA. Freshman setter Jenna Gray directed the offense to a .309 hitting percentage against the Trojans as four Cardinal recorded double-digit kills. Versus the Bruins, freshman Kathryn Plummer led the team with 17 kills and 10 digs, while redshirt junior Merete Lutz added 13 kills on a .478 attack percentage. UCLA snapped Stanford's six-match winning streak.
NATIONAL POLL: Stanford fell to No. 12 in the AVCA top 25 this week. No. 1 Nebraska received all 64 first-place votes for at third straight week followed by No. 2 Minnesota, No. 3 Wisconsin, No. 4 Kansas and No. 5 Florida. The Cardinal is one of five Pac-12 squads ranked, joined by No. 8 Washington, No. 9 UCLA, No. 16 Utah and No. 19 Oregon.
IN THE NATION: Stanford is third in the country with 3.33 blocks per set, thanks in large part to its middle blockers Inky Ajanaku and Audriana Fitzmorris. Ajanaku (1.52 bps) is third in the Pac-12 and eighth in the nation, while Fitzmorris (1.46) is fourth in the conference and 13th in the country.
CLIMBING THE CHARTS: Redshirt senior Inky Ajanaku began her final season on The Farm ranked ninth in program history in total blocks (435). She is currently in fifth place with 572, passing Jennifer Detmer (1997-00), Jenn Harvey (2000-03), Laura Olesen (1985-89) and Kerri Walsh (1996-99). Ajanaku's 1.30 career average is tied for the sixth-best mark in school history with Foluke Akinradewo (2005-09).
SINGLE-SEASON MARK: Freshman libero Morgan Hentz has collected 434 digs this season, ranking 10th on the Cardinal's single season list. Her 4.62 season average is the fifth-best mark in a single season in program history. Gabi Ailes (2007-10) holds the school's single season records with 617 digs and 5.23 digs per set in 2009.
TOP OF HER CLASS: Redshirt senior Inky Ajanaku is one of 10 finalists in the nation for the Senior CLASS Award. An acronym for Celebrating Loyalty and Achievement for Staying in School®, the Senior CLASS Award focuses on the total student-athlete and encourages students to use their athletic platforms to make a positive impact as leaders in their communities. Fans can vote daily through Dec. 5 at seniorclassaward.com.
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.
PAC-12 CONFERENCE FINISHES: The Cardinal finished third in the Pac-12 for the first time in program history in 2015. 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 32 years as a head coach, John Dunning is 878-185 (.826), giving him a winning percentage that ranks among the top 5 all-time for Division I coaches. He is 441-83 in his 16 seasons on The Farm, leading all active coaches in the conference by winning percentage (.842). He also just past Stanford Hall of Famer Don Shaw(440) to become the winningest coach in Cardinal women's volleyball history with 441.
