THIS WEEK: No. 4 Stanford (7-2) opens Pac-12 Conference play on Wednesday against rival California (9-2) at 8 p.m. in Maples Pavilion. The Cardinal will also travel to No. 25 Colorado (10-1) on Sunday at 11 a.m. PT during the opening week of conference play.
CATCH THE CARDINAL: Live stats links for both matches can be found on the women's volleyball schedule page on GoStanford.com. Wednesday's match will be televised live on Pac-12 Network and Pac-12 Bay Area, while Sunday's match will air on Pac-12 Network, Pac-12 Bay Area and Pac-12 Mountain.
SOCIAL MEDIA:
Facebook.com/StanfordWVB
Twitter: @StanfordWVB
Instagram: @stanfordwvb
PROMOTIONS: Wednesday is National Pepperoni Pizza Day! The loudest fans will have a chance to win free pepperoni pizza throughout the match. Additionally, head coach Kevin Hambly will host a Chalk Talk at 7:30 p.m. in Kissick Auditorium. For more information on this season's promotions, visit gostanford.com/wvbpromotions.
SCOUTING CALIFORNIA: Cal finished nonconference play with a 9-2 overall record. The Bears are hitting .271 as a team and rank fifth in the Pac-12 with 1.36 aces per set. Under the guidance of new head coach Matt McShane, Cal runs a 6-2 offense with junior Mackenzie Albrecht and freshman Isabel Potter sharing duties at setter, averaging 6.38 and 5.02 assists per set, respectively. Senior outside hitter Antzela Dempi paces the team with 3.02 kills per set, while leading the conference in aces (0.57) and ranking seventh in hitting percentage (.355).
THE SERIES WITH THE GOLDEN BEARS: Stanford is 71-11 all-time against California. The Cardinal has won 10 in a row against the Bears dating back to 2012. The last Cal win came on Nov. 25, 2011 in four sets at Maples Pavilion.
SCOUTING COLORADO: Entering the rankings this week, Colorado went 10-1 in nonconference matches, including a five-set win over then-No. 22 Colorado State last Saturday. The Buffaloes rank third in the Pac-12 in hitting percentage (.297), kills (14.48) and assists (13.38). Senior middle blocker Anna Pfefferle leads the conference with a .425 attack percentage, while junior middle blocer Naghede Abu is hitting .392 (5th - Pac-12) and ranks eighth in the league at 1.35 blocks per set. Freshman setter Brynna DeLuzio controls the offense with 11.45 assists per set, while junior outside hitter Alexa Smith is sixth in the Pac-12 in kills (4.24) and points (4.74).
THE SERIES WITH THE BUFFALOES: The Cardinal holds a 17-1 overall record versus the Buffaloes. Stanford won a pair of four-set matches against Colorado last season. The Cardinal's lone loss to the Buffaloes came in Boulder in 2015.
LAST TIME OUT: Stanford posted a pair of sweeps over Pacific and Saint Mary's last week to improve to 7-2 overall. Kathryn Plummer led the team offensively with 4.67 kills on .375 hitting in the two matches, while Audriana Fitzmorris averaged 2.00 blocks per set. Stanford hit .323 as a team, while Jenna Gray dished out 12.00 assists per set.
ROAD TESTED: Stanford finally played its first home match of the season last week. The Cardinal is slated to play 13 of its first 17 matches away from Maples Pavilion. In fact, nine of its first 11 matches will be played on the road or at a neutral site.
STRAIGHT SETS: All seven of Stanford's wins this season have come in straight sets. The only sets the Cardinal has lost have come at the hands of Penn State.
NATIONAL POLL: Stanford remained at No. 4 in the AVCA Poll again this week after sweeping Pacific and Saint Mary's. Minnesota is No. 1 for the third straight week, followed by Penn State and Florida. Wisconsin continues to round out the top 5. Seven Pac-12 squads are ranked in the top 25, including No. 7 Washington, No. 8 Oregon, No. 11 UCLA, No. 16 Utah, No. 21 USC and No. 25 Colorado.
CLIMBING THE CHARTS: Redshirt senior Merete Lutz missed the Cardinal's first five matches due to an ankle injury suffered in the team's last preseason practice. The three-time All-American is seventh all-time at Stanford with a .354 career hitting percentage and is 10 blocks away from entering the program's top 10.
LEADING THE PAC: Sophomore Kathryn Plummer leads the Pac-12 and ranks sixth nationally with 4.93 kills per set. The outside hitter also paces the league and is third in the nation in points per set at 5.65.
GETTING DEFENSIVE: Sophomore libero Morgan Hentz set a single season Stanford record as a rookie with 630 total digs (4.88 dps). She leads the Cardinal this season and is eighth in the Pac-12, averaging 3.43 digs per set and has tallied double-digit digs in five of the team's first nine matches.
ALL IN THE FAMILY: Twins Caitlin and Michaela Keefe are the daughters of Stanford Hall of Famers Adam Keefe and Kristin (Klein) Keefe. Their father played basketball (1988-1991) and volleyball (1988-1990), and was the 10th overall pick by the Atlanta Hawks in the 1992 NBA draft, playing professionally for the Hawks, Jazz, Warriors and overseas in Spain. Their mother was a four-time AVCA All-American (1988-1992) and a member of the 1996 U.S. Olympic Team.
1,000 KILLS CLUB: Redshirt senior Merete Lutz is 26 kills away from reaching 1,000 for her career. She will become just the 18th Cardinal player since 1986 to accomplish that feat.
PAC-12 CONFERENCE FINISHES: The Cardinal finished tied for second in the Pac-12 in 2016 with UCLA at 15-5. It marked the 28th top-2 standing in conference play in the past 31 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 11 Pac-12 titles.
BY THE NUMBERS: The 2016 season marked Stanford's 36th 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 (115), made more Final Four appearances (20) and been in the national championship match (15) more times than any other program in the nation. It's seventh NCAA title also ties Penn State for the most by a Division I team.
HEAD COACH KEVIN HAMBLY: Kevin Hambly was named the head coach of the Cardinal on Jan. 30, 2017 after spending eight seasons at the helm at Illinois. The 2011 Volleyball Magazine National Coach of the Year, Hambly led the Illini to six NCAA regional appearances and the 2011 national title match. He coached 12 AVCA All-Americans to 19 honors during his time at Illinois.
