Pacific Northwest ShowdownsPacific Northwest Showdowns
Women's Volleyball

Pacific Northwest Showdowns

No. 2 Stanford (21-2, 14-0 Pac-12)
at No. 13 Washington (16-8, 6-6 Pac-12) | Wed. • 7 p.m. PT
at Washington State (14-6, 7-5 Pac-12) | Sat. • 7 p.m. PT
Television • Pac-12 Networks
Live Statistics • GoStanford.com
Complete Release (PDF)
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SCOUTING WASHINGTON: Washington enters the week tied for third in the Pac-12 with Colorado and Utah at 9-5. The Huskies pace the league in blocks (3.12) and are second in aces (1.45) and fifth in opponent hitting percentage (.197). Senior Carly DeHoog leads the team with 3.00 kills on .316 hitting and 1.00 block per set. Senior Tia Scambray, who has played libero and outside hitter this season for the Huskies, is averaging 1.04 kills, 3.75 digs and 0.34 aces per set. Freshman middle blocker Lauren Sanders leads the Pac-12 with 1.50 blocks per set.

THE SERIES WITH THE HUSKIES: Stanford leads the all-time series against Washington 55-14. The Cardinal survived a five-setter at home against the Huskies on October 19 after falling behind 2-1. Four Cardinal notched double-digit kills in the first meeting this season, including Kathryn Plummer (20 kills, 10 digs) and Tami Alade (14 kills on .632 hitting). Washington's most recent win over Stanford was on Nov. 12, 2015 in Seattle.

SCOUTING WASHINGTON STATE: Washington State is 3-11 in conference and will play host to Cal on Friday before facing the Cardinal on Saturday. The Cougars are second in the Pac-12 with 2.99 blocks per set and boast a .184 opponent hitting percentage. Junior Taylor Mims is seventh in the league with 3.77 kills and 4.37 points per set. Redshirt sophomore Jocelyn Urias is second in the Pac-12 with 1.48 blocks per set, while libero Alexis Dirige is third with 4.47 digs per set.

THE SERIES WITH THE COUGARS: Stanford is 59-4 overall against Washington State. The Cardinal swept the Cougars earlier this season as Kathryn Plummer led the team with 10 kills, while Morgan Hentz racked up 17 digs. Washington State's most recent win came on Sept. 30, 2016 in five sets in Pullman. Prior to last season, the Cougars hadn't defeated the Cardinal since Nov. 16, 2002.

LAST TIME OUT: Stanford improved to 12-0 in the Pac-12 with road wins at Arizona and Arizona State. Sophomore Kathryn Plummer averaged 5.43 kills on .464 hitting and 2.29 digs per set in the two matches. Jenna Gray dished out 12.29 assists per set as the team hit .398 in a pair of victories.
  


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 11-0 this season in road matches. Three of its final six matches will be at Maples Pavilion.

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.
 


NATIONAL POLL: Stanford remained at No. 2 in the AVCA Poll this week, earning eight first-place votes. Penn State held on to the top spot yet again, while Texas, Florida and Minnesota continued to round out the top 5. Seven Pac-12 squads are ranked in the top 25, including No. 13 Washington, No. 15 Utah, No. 16 Oregon, No. 17 USC, No. 18 UCLA 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 .356 career hitting percentage and moved into the program's top 10 in career blocks with 463 (9th).

LEADING THE PAC: Sophomore Kathryn Plummer is tied for the Pac-12 lead with 5.33 points per set, ranking eighth in the nation. Sophomore Jenna Gray leads the conference  and is sixth nationally with 11.91 assists per set, while junior Tami Alade is tops in the Pac-12 and fifth nationally with a .451 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 fifth in the Pac-12, averaging 3.86 digs per set, and has tallied double-digit digs in 16 of the team's 23 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 65 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.