Regular Season Wraps UpRegular Season Wraps Up
Al Chang/Stanford Athletics
Women's Volleyball

Regular Season Wraps Up

No. 4 Stanford (24-3, 17-1 Pac-12)
vs. No. 15 Utah (21-8, 12-6 Pac-12) | Wed. • 6 p.m. PT
at California (13-16, 4-14 Pac-12) | Sat. • 7 p.m. PT
Television • Pac-12 Networks
Live Statistics • GoStanford.com
Complete Release (PDF)
Facebook |Twitter| Instagram
 


SENIOR NIGHT: Wednesday marks the final regular season match of fifth-year senior Merete Lutz's career. The three-time All-American will be recognized in a postmatch ceremony on the court. 

SCOUTING UTAH: Utah enters the week tied for third place in the Pac-12 with Washington. The Utes lead the conference in kills (14.46) and assists (13.76), rank second in opponent hitting percentage (.189) and third in digs (15.78) and attack percentage (.256). Utah is led by senior Adora Anae, who is fourth in the Pac-12 with 4.27 kills and 4.68 points per set. Senior Tawnee Luafalemana is fifth in the league with a .353 attack percentage and seventh with 1.21 blocks per set. 

THE SERIES WITH THE UTES: Stanford holds a 13-2 advantage in the all-time series with Utah. The teams split the season series in 2016 as each won on the other's home court. Wednesday is the lone meeting of the season between the two squads.

SCOUTING CALIFORNIA: Cal is tied for 10th in the conference at 4-14 and will host Colorado on Wednesday. The Bears are hitting .228 as a team and are led by senior Antzela Dempi, who is 10th in the Pac-12 with 3.79 point per set. She also paces the league with 0.49 aces per set. Mima Mirkovic adds 2.51 kills and 3.18 digs per set. 

THE SERIES WITH THE GOLDEN BEARS: Stanford is 72-11 all-time against California. Kathryn Plummer led the Cardinal with 17 kills on .519 hitting in a sweep on Sept. 20 at Stanford. The Cardinal has won 11 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. 

LAST TIME OUT: Stanford picked up two wins last week at Maples against the LA schools. The Cardinal hit .461 in a sweep over No. 14 USC before coming from behind to defeat No. 18 UCLA. Kathryn Plummer averaged 4.88 kills on .365 hitting to lead the team, while Merete Lutz chipped in with 3.62 kills on a .443 attack percentage and 1.38 blocks per set in the two matches.
 


CONFERENCE CHAMPIONS: The Cardinal clinched its 17th Pac-12 title last week with a 3-0 win over USC. It is the program's 20th conference championship overall and first since 2014. It marked the 29th top-2 standing in conference play in the past 32 seasons. Stanford has claimed eight of the past 12 Pac-12 titles.

NATIONAL POLL: Stanford held steady at No. 4 in the AVCA Poll this week. Penn State remains in the top spot, while Texas and Florida are ahead of the Cardinal. Nebraska rounds out the top 5 for the second straight week. Six Pac-12 squads are ranked in the top 25, including No. 12 Washington, No. 13 USC, No. 15 Utah, No. 19 UCLA and No. 24 Oregon.

PLAYERS OF THE WEEK: Stanford boasts 105 Pac-12 players of the week all-time, including five 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. 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. Kathryn Plummer has been tabbed the Offensive Player of the Week twice (Oct. 30 and Nov. 20), while Audriana Fitzmorris is the reigning Defensive Player of the Week (Nov. 20).
 


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 .351 career hitting percentage and moved into the program's top 10 in career blocks with 482 (8th).

LEADING THE PAC: Sophomore Kathryn Plummer leads the Pac-12 with 4.72 kills per set, ranking ninth in the nation, and is the conference leader and sixth nationally with 5.43 points per set. Sophomore Jenna Gray paces the conference  and is third nationally with 12.07 assists per set, while junior Tami Alade is tops in the Pac-12 and with a .411 attack percentage. Sophomore Audriana Fitzmorris became the conference's blocks leader this week, averaging 1.51 per set (11th nationally).
 


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 3.98 digs per set, and has tallied double-digit digs in 20 of the team's 27 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 became the 18th Stanford player since 1986 to register 1,000 digs, doing so against No. 18 UCLA on Nov. 16. Gabi Ailes (2007-10) holds the career record at Stanford with 2,147 digs, the fifth-most in Pac-12 history.

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.