Devils, 'Cats NextDevils, 'Cats Next
Mike Rasay
Women's Volleyball

Devils, 'Cats Next

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No. 2 Stanford (9-2, 2-0 Pac-12)
vs. Arizona State (10-4, 0-2 Pac-12) | Wed. • 7 p.m. PT
vs. Arizona (7-4, 1-1 Pac-12) | Fri. • 7 p.m. PT
Television • Pac-12 Networks
Live Statistics • GoStanford.com
Promotions • GoStanford.com/wvbpromotions
Complete Release (PDF)
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SCOUTING ARIZONA STATE: Arizona State went 10-2 in the nonconference portion of its schedule before dropping its first two Pac-12 matches last week, including a five-setter to No. 7 Washington. The Sun Devils lead the conference in digs (16.84), rank second in assists (13.70) and fourth in kills (14.30). Senior Oluoma Okaro leads the team and is second in the Pac-12 with 4.70 kills and 5.42 points per set. Freshman setter Shelbie Dobmeier controls the offense with a Pac-12-leading 11.62 assists per set, while senior libero Halle Harker paces the conference with 5.48 digs per set.

THE SERIES WITH THE SUN DEVILS: Stanford is 68-5 all-time versus Arizona State. The Cardinal swept the Sun Devils twice last season. The last ASU victory came on Oct. 2, 2015, a four-set victory in Tempe.

SCOUTING ARIZONA: Arizona is 7-4 overall and split its first two Pac-12 matches with a sweep at Arizona State before falling in four at home to Washington State last week. The Wildcats are holding their opponents to a .170 attack percentage, ranking third in the Pac-12, while they are fourth in blocks (2.85) and digs (14.44). Junior outside hitter Tyler Spriggs leads the team with 3.06 kills per set, while junior Kendra Dahlke adds 2.97 kills and 2.45 digs per set. Sophomore setter Julia Patterson is sixth in the league with 10.66 assists per set, while senior libero Kimberly Gutierrez is 10th in digs (3.15) and aces (0.30).

THE SERIES WITH THE WILDCATS: Stanford holds a 66-7 all-time lead in the series with Arizona. The teams split the season series in 2016 with each winning on the other's home court. The Wildcats' victory in Maples on Oct. 14 snapped a 19-match losing streak to the Cardinal. 

LAST TIME OUT: Stanford escaped Colorado with a 3-2 win on Sunday to improve to 2-0 in the Pac-12. Without Audiana Fitzmorris, who was out with an injury, redshirt senior Merete Lutz (17 kills, 5 blocks) moved to middle blocker and Kathryn Plummer (18 kills, 19 digs) played at opposite. Junior middle blocker Tami Alade finished with a career-high 17 kills and matched her career-best with nine blocks to lead the team.
 


ROAD TESTED: Stanford finally played its first home match of the season on September 15. The Cardinal is slated to play 13 of its first 17 matches away from Maples Pavilion. In fact, nine of its first 11 matches were played on the road or at a neutral site. Stanford is 5-0 this season in road matches.

STRAIGHT SETS: Eight of Stanford's first nine wins this season have come in straight sets. The only sets the Cardinal has lost in a win were at then-No. 25 Colorado on Sept. 24.

NATIONAL POLL: Stanford moved up to No. 2 in the AVCA Poll this week after sweeping Cal and defeating Colorado. Florida is the new No. 1 team in the country. Minnesota and Penn State are tied for third, while Texas rounds out the top 5. Six Pac-12 squads are ranked in the top 20, including No. 6 Washington, No. 12 Oregon, No. 13 UCLA, No. 15 Utah and No. 20 USC.
 

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 .357 career hitting percentage and is just one block away from entering the program's top 10.

LEADING THE PAC: Sophomore Kathryn Plummer leads the Pac-12 and ranks eighth nationally with 4.82 kills per set. The outside hitter also paces the league and is fourth in the nation in points per set at 5.55.

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 3.47 digs per set and has tallied double-digit digs in seven of the team's first 10 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 four 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.

PRESEASON All-PAC-12: Stanford led the conference with four Preseason All-Pac-12 selections. Merete Lutz is being recognized for the third time in her career, while Audriana Fitzmorris, Morgan Hentz and Kathryn Plummer were also tabbed to the list.

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.