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Women's Volleyball

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No. 2 Stanford (12-1, 4-0 Pac-12) at No. 24 Utah (9-6, 1-3 Pac-12)
Friday • 5 p.m. PT
Television • Pac-12 Network
Live Statistics • GoStanford.com


No. 2 Stanford (12-1, 4-0 Pac-12) at Colorado (9-6, 1-3 Pac-12)
Sunday • 11 a.m. PT 
Television • Pac-12 Network
Live Statistics • GoStanford.com
Complete Release (PDF)
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SCOUTING UTAH: Utah is coming off a four-set win at then-No. 13 Washington last week. The Utes are hitting .256 as a team and rank four in the Pac-12 with 1.51 aces per set. Sophomore Dani Drews leads the team and is sixth in the league with 4.44 points per set and seventh with 3.80 kills per set. The outside hitter is also second in the conference with 0.41 aces per set. Junior setter Bailey Choy controls the offense with 8.87 assists per set, good for ninth in the Pac-12.

THE SERIES WITH THE UTES: Stanford is 14-2 all-time against Utah. The Cardinal won the only meeting between the two programs last season, a 3-0 victory at Maples Pavilion. The most recent Utah win came in four sets on Oct. 9, 2016 at Stanford.

SCOUTING COLORADO: Colorado is 1-3 to start Pac-12 play with its lone win coming over Utah at home in five sets. The Buffaloes are hitting .243 as a team and rank fourth in the Pac-12 with 2.55 blocks per set. Senior Alexa Smith paces the team and is ninth in the conference with 3.54 kills per set, while ranking 10th with 4.08 points per set. Freshman middle blocker Danielle Price is seventh in the league with 1.25 blocks per set.

THE SERIES WITH THE BUFFALOES: Stanford holds an 18-1 lead in the all-time series against Colorado. The Cardinal has won four in a row, including a five-set victory in Boulder last season. The Buffaloes lone win came on Oct. 18, 2015 at Colorado.

NATIONAL POLL: Stanford remained at 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 the Cardinal is followed by Nebraska, Texas and Minnesota in the top 5. Eight Pac-12 squads are ranked, the most by any conference.

LAST WEEK: Stanford improved to 4-0 in the Pac-12 with sweeps over then-No. 18 UCLA and then-No. 13 USC, extending its home winning streak to 25. Sophomore Meghan McClure hit .523 with just three attack errors in the two matches, while junior Kathryn Plummer led the squad with 5.83 kills and 3.00 digs per set. Junior Morgan Hentz continued to anchor the defense with 6.00 digs per set and zero reception errors. Middle blocker Holly Campbell had a career-high 14 kills to go with six blocks against the Bruins. Hentz and Campbell were recognized by the Pac-12 as the Defensive Player and Freshman of the Week.
 


HOME SWEET HOME: Dating back to 2016, Stanford's 25-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 6-0 to start this season. Over the past five-plus seasons, the Cardinal is 77-8 (.906) 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.

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.