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Al Chang/Stanford Athletics
Women's Volleyball

Pac-12 Play Continues


No. 2 Stanford (16-1, 8-0 Pac-12) at Oregon State (10-10, 0-8 Pac-12)
Friday • 7 p.m.
Television • Pac-12 Network
Live Statistics • GoStanford.com


No. 2 Stanford (16-1, 8-0 Pac-12) at No. 16 Oregon (12-6, 5-3 Pac-12)
Sunday • 11 a.m. 
Television • ESPN2
Live Statistics • GoStanford.com

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SCOUTING OREGON STATE: Oregon State is still seeking its first Pac-12 win of the 2018 season, and is 10-10 overall. The Beavers are second in the conference in blocks (2.63) and fourth in digs (15.47). Sophomore Maddie Goings leads the team with 3.43 kills and 2.55 digs per set, while junior Amy Underdown adds 3.04 kills and 2.43 digs per set. Freshman setter Maddie Sheehan controls the offense and ranks eighth in the Pac-12 with 8.91 assists per set. Sophomore libero Grace Massey leads the defense, ranking fourth in the league with 4.64 digs per set.

THE SERIES WITH THE BEAVERS: Stanford is a perfect 66-0 all-time against Oregon State. The Cardinal swept both matches against the Beavers in 2017.

SCOUTING OREGON: Oregon enters the week in a three-way tie for third in the Pac-12 at 5-3. The Ducks are second in the conference with 14.77 kills per set, and rank third in hitting percentage (.257) and digs (16.68). Senior outside hitter Lindsey Vander Weide leads the team and is 10th in the Pac-12 with 3.44 kills and 4.01 points per set. She is also seventh in the league with 0.31 aces per set. Senior setter August Raskie is second in the conference with 12.12 assists per set, while freshman libero Brooke Nuneviller is third with 4.70 digs per set. Junior Ronika Stone adds 3.05 kills and ranks fourth in the Pac-12 with 1.25 blocks per set.

THE SERIES WITH THE DUCKS: Stanford holds a 59-4 lead in the all-time series versus Oregon. The Cardinal swept both meetings last season, and has won 11 in a row over the Ducks. The most recent Oregon win came on Nov. 18, 2011, a five-set victory at Maples Pavilion.

NATIONAL POLL: Stanford remained No. 2 in the AVCA Coaches Poll again this week, garnering four first-place votes. The Cardinal began the season at No. 1 for the first time since 2002. BYU stayed at No. 1, while Stanford is followed by Minnesota, Penn State and Nebraska in the top 5. Seven Pac-12 squads are ranked.

LAST WEEK: Stanford continued its dominance at Maples Pavilion, sweeping then-No. 21 Washington State and then-No. 18 Washington. Junior outside hitter Kathryn Plummer averaged a team-best 5.50 kills and  5.92 points per set while hitting .433. Junior libero Morgan Hentz turned in 5.67 digs per set to anchor the Cardinal defense. The pair were named the Pac-12 Offensive and Defensive Players of the Week.
 


HOME SWEET HOME: Dating back to 2016, Stanford's 27-match home winning streak is the longest in the nation. The Cardinal went a perfect 11-0 in its regular season home matches in 2017, and is 8-0 to start this season. Under head coach Kevin Hambly, Stanford has only dropped seven sets at Maples Pavilion. Over the past five-plus seasons, the Cardinal is 79-8 (.908) at home. 

BY THE NUMBERS: The 2017 season marked Stanford's 37th 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 (119), made more Final Four appearances (21) and been in the national championship match (15) more times than any other program in the nation. Its seven NCAA titles also ties Penn State for the most by a Division I team.

SENIOR CLASS CANDIDATE: Middle blocker Tami Alade is one of two Pac-12 players to be 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.
 


PRESEASON ALL-PAC-12: Stanford led the conference with four Preseason All-Pac-12 selections - Audriana Fitzmorris, Jenna Gray, Morgan Hentz and Kathryn Plummer. Fitzmorris, Hentz and Plummer are repeat honorees, while Gray earns the nod for the first time.

ALL-AMERICANS: The Cardinal returns five AVCA All-Americans to its 2018 roster. Jenna Gray, Morgan Hentz and Kathryn Plummer were all first team picks as sophomores, while Audriana Fitzmorris earned a spot on the second team. Senior Tami Alade landed on the honorable mention list. Stanford's five players on the first and second teams in 2017 were a program-best. The selections brought Stanford's total AVCA All-America award count to 95 honors spread over 40 players. It marked the fifth straight season in which the Cardinal had produced at least four All-Americans.
 


PAC-12'S TOP HONOR: In 2017, Kathryn Plummer became the 15th Cardinal player and first since Alix Klineman in 2010 to be named the Pac-12 Player of the Year after leading the conference in kills (4.66) and points per set (5.39). She was also the first conference player to win Freshman of the Year and Player of the Year in back-to-back seasons since Stanford's Bev Oden in 1989 and 1990.

SETTER OF THE YEAR: Jenna Gray was the second Stanford player to earn Pac-12 Setter of the Year honors since the award began in 2011, joining Madi Bugg who took home the honor three times (2013, 2014, 2015). The Shawnee, Kansas native paced the league and was fourth nationally in 2017 with 12.04 assists per set, and had the Cardinal hitting .319 as a team - the third-best mark in the nation.
 


LIBERO OF THE YEAR: Morgan Hentz was the first Cardinal player to be named the Pac-12 Libero of the Year since the award's inception in 2011. She led the team with 4.08 digs per set in 2017, upping that mark to 4.39 digs per set in NCAA Tournament matches, and had just 15 reception errors on the season.
 


CONFERENCE CHAMPIONS: The Cardinal clinched its 17th Pac-12 title on Nov. 15 with a 3-0 win over USC. It was the program's 20th conference championship overall and first since 2014. It marked the 29th top-2 standing in Pac-10/12 play in the past 32 seasons. Stanford has claimed eight of the past 12 Pac-12 titles.

1,000 KILLS CLUB: At Howard on Aug. 27, junior Kathryn Plummer became the 19th Stanford player to register 1,000 career kills just half way through her collegiate career. Only two Cardinal players have reached the 2,000 career kills milestone - Ogonna Nnamani (2,450) and Alix Klineman (2,008).
 


1,000 DIGS CLUB: JuniorMorgan Hentz became the 18th Stanford player since 1986 to register 1,000 career 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.

CARD IN EUROPE: In June, the Cardinal embarked on a 12-day European Tour, including stops in Slovenia, Croatia and Italy. The Cardinal played matches versus the Slovenia National Team, twice, the Slovenia U19 National Team and the Serbian U19 Team while in Slovenia. Stanford also played the Croatian Federation Team and Italy's Menca's U17 National Team. Freshmen Holly Campbell and Mackenzie Fidelak, and outgoing senior Merete Lutz joined the team on the tour. The trip was the Cardinal's first international journey since visiting China in 2011.
 


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, and has added six more at Stanford.