Road Trip to Los AngelesRoad Trip to Los Angeles
Al Chang/Stanford Athletics
Women's Volleyball

Road Trip to Los Angeles

No. 3 Stanford (13-2, 6-0 Pac-12)
at No. 12 UCLA (9-3, 2-2 Pac-12) | Fri. • 6 p.m. PT
at No. 19 USC (10-6, 0-4 Pac-12) | Sun. • 3 p.m. PT
Television • Pac-12 Networks
Live Statistics • GoStanford.com
Complete Release (PDF)
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SCOUTING UCLA: UCLA enters the week teid for fourth in the Pac-12 with Washington with a 4-2 conference record. The Bruins, who have won three straight, are second in the league with 16.09 digs per set and rank fifth with a .264 hitting percentage and 13.93 kills per set. Senior setter Sarah Sponcil controls the offense with 11.27 assists per set, ranking second in the Pac-12. Senior outside hitter Reily Buechler is ninth in the conference with 3.25 kills and 10th with 3.69 points per set. Junior libero Zana Muno is second in the league with 4.62 digs per set.

THE SERIES WITH THE BRUINS: Stanford is 48-37 all-time against UCLA. The Bruins swept the season series in 2016. Prior to last season, Stanford had won seven in a row against UCLA.

SCOUTING USC: USC, which is tied for second in the Pac-12 with Utah, suffered its first conference loss last week at Arizona. The Trojans lead the league in conference matches in kills (15.09), assists (14.17) and aces (1.43). Sophomore Khalia Lanier is fourth in the Pac-12 for the season in kills (4.14), fifth in points (4.74) and sixth in aces (0.35). Senior Brittany Abercrombie is 10th in the Pac-12 with a .334 attack percentage and is second on the team with 3.12 kills per set. The Trojans run a 6-2 offense with senior Reni Meyer-Whalley (6.39 aps) and sophomore Cindy Marina (5.42 aps) sharing setting duties.

THE SERIES WITH THE TROJANS: Stanford holds a 61-24 lead in all-time series with USC. The Cardinal won both matches against the Trojans last season. USC's last win over Stanford came in five sets on Sept. 27, 2015 at Maples Pavilion.

LAST TIME OUT: Stanford won its eighth straight match with a sweep over Oregon State on Sunday after also sweeping then-No. 16 Oregon on Friday. Kathryn Plummer averaged 5.00 kills per set on .350 hitting, while sophomore setter Jenna Gray dished out 13.33 assists per set. The Cardinal, which leads the Pac-12 with a .309 hitting percentage, out hit the Ducks and Beavers, .321 to .169.
 


ROAD TESTED: Stanford 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 7-0 this season in road matches.

STRAIGHT SETS: Twelve of Stanford's first 13 wins of the 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 slipped to No. 3 in the AVCA Poll this week, but collected two first-place votes. Florida remained in the No. 1 spot, while Penn State jumped the Cardinal to move to No. 2. Nebraska and Texas round out the top 5. Six Pac-12 squads are ranked in the top 20, including No. 12 UCLA, No. 13 Utah, No. 14 Washington, No. 15 Oregon and No. 19 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 .355 career hitting percentage and moved into the program's top 10 in career blocks with 431.

LEADING THE PAC: Sophomore Kathryn Plummer leads the Pac-12 and ranks ninth nationally with 4.76 kills per set, and also paces the league and is fifth in the nation in points per set at 5.44. Sophomore Jenna Gray leads the conference with 11.82 assists per set, while junior Tami Alade is tops in the Pac-12 with a .426 attack percentage.
 


SENIOR CLASS CANDIDATE: Fifth-year senior Merete Lutz has been named a top 30 candidate for the Senior CLASS Award. The award recognizes student-athletes who have notable achievements in four areas of excellence: community, classroom, character and competition.

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 3.58 digs per set and has tallied double-digit digs in nine of the team's first 15 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 recorded her 1,000th career kill on Sept. 27 against Arizona State. She became 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.

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.