Mid-Week MatchupsMid-Week Matchups
Karen Ambrose Hickey
Women's Volleyball

Mid-Week Matchups

No. 4 Stanford (22-3, 15-1 Pac-12)
vs. No. 14 USC (20-7, 12-4 Pac-12) | Wed. • 7 p.m. PT
vs. No. 18 UCLA (16-9, 9-7 Pac-12) | Thurs. • 8 p.m. PT
Television • Pac-12 Networks
Live Statistics • GoStanford.com
Complete Release (PDF)
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PROMOTIONS: Wednesday's match has been tabbed Equality Night as Stanford and USC will celebrate inclusion and diversity in sports. Thursday's match is Fan Appreciation Night and fans will have the chance to win various giveaways and prizes throughout the match. Both nights, the Cardinal will be offering $7 discounted tickets with the donation of a canned food item as a part of its Holiday Drive.

CONFERENCE TITLE SCENARIOS: The Cardinal can clinch its first Pac-12 title since 2014 with a win against the Trojans on Wednesday. A loss would mean Stanford must win two of its final three matches to win the conference championship outright should USC not lose a match the rest of the way.

SCOUTING USC: USC enters the week in second place in the Pac-12 at 12-4 and has won five in a row. The Trojans are third in the conference in kills (13.20) and assists (14.13), and rank fourth with a .254 team hitting percentage. Sophomore Khalia Lanier leads the team and is fifth in the Pac-12 with 4.09 kills and 4.63 points per set. The outside hitter is also eighth in the league with 0.33 aces per set. Junior libero Victoria Garrick anchors the defense and is fifth in the Pac-12 with 3.86 digs per set.

THE SERIES WITH THE TROJANS: Stanford holds a 62-24 lead in the all-time series with USC. The Cardinal topped the Trojans in four sets in Los Angeles earlier this season with Merete Lutz leading the team with 15 kills on .609 hitting and five blocks. USC's last win over Stanford came in five sets on Sept. 27, 2015 at Maples Pavilion.

SCOUTING UCLA: The Bruins are in a four-way tie for fifth place in the Pac-12 coming into the week. UCLA leads the conference in digs (16.74) and rank third in opponent hitting percentage (.191) and fifth in kills (13.62). Senior outside hitter Reily Buechler is ninth in the league in kills (3.35) and points (3.87), while senior setter Sarah Sponcil is second with 10.97 assists per set. Sophomore middle blocker Madeleine Gates is fifth in the Pac-12 with a .351 attack percentage and sixth with 1.26 blocks per set.

THE SERIES WITH THE BRUINS: Stanford is 49-37 all-time against UCLA. The Cardinal defeated the Bruins, 3-1, in October behind 21 kills, 10 digs and a career-high eight aces from Kathryn Plummer. The Bruins swept the season series against Stanford in 2016, snapping a seven-match winning streak for the Cardinal.

LAST TIME OUT: Stanford suffered its first loss in Pac-12 play at No. 13 Washington on Wednesday before bouncing back to defeat Washington State on Saturday. Sophomore Kathryn Plummer averaged 6.00 kills per set on .318 hitting and 2.75 digs per set in the two matches, while sophomore setter Jenna Gray dished out 13.25 assists per set. It marked the Cardinal's first loss in Pac-12 play in nearly a year. Its last coming in five-sets to UCLA on Nov. 12, 2016.
 


ROAD TESTED: The Cardinal played 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 12-1 this season in road matches. Three of its final four matches will be at Maples Pavilion.

NATIONAL POLL: Stanford slipped to No. 4 in the AVCA Poll this week and splitting its road trip to the Washington schools last week. Penn State remains in the top spot, while Texas and Florida jumped the Cardinal and No. 2 and No. 3, respectively. Nebraska rounds out the top 5. Six Pac-12 squads are ranked in the top 20, including No. 10 Washington, No. 14 USC, No. 17 Utah, No. 18 UCLA and No. 20 Oregon.

PLAYERS OF THE WEEK: Stanford boasts 103 Pac-12 players of the week all-time, including three this season. Morgan Hentz picked up her first career Pac-12 Defensive Player of the Week honors on Oct. 23 after averaging 4.50 digs per set in wins over No. 14 Washington and Washington State. Kathryn Plummer posted 5.43 kills per set on .464 hitting at ASU and Arizona to nab her second career weekly honor, Offensive Player of the Week on Oct. 30. Merete Lutz collected Offensive Player of the Week honors on Nov. 6 for her efforts (4.00 kps, .526 hitting percentage) against the Oregon schools.
 


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 .349 career hitting percentage and moved into the program's top 10 in career blocks with 471 (9th).

LEADING THE PAC: Sophomore Kathryn Plummer leads the Pac-12 with 4.70 kills per set, ranking seventh in the nation, and is the conference leader and sixth nationally with 5.42 points per set. Sophomore Jenna Gray paces the conference  and is fourth nationally with 12.03 assists per set, while junior Tami Alade is tops in the Pac-12 and sixth nationally with a .433 attack percentage.
 


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 fourth in the Pac-12, averaging 3.95 digs per set, and has tallied double-digit digs in 18 of the team's 25 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.
 


APPROACHING 1,000: Sophomore Morgan Hentz is 26 digs away from 1,000 for her career. She will be the 18th Stanford player since 1986 to reach that milestone. Gabi Ailes (2007-10) holds the career record at Stanford with 2,147 digs, the fifth-most in Pac-12 history.

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.