Team_EC_20181012_092Team_EC_20181012_092
Erin Chang/Stanford Athletics
Women's Volleyball

Card Hosts Colorado, Utah


No. 2 Stanford (20-1, 12-0 Pac-12) vs. Colorado (13-10, 5-7 Pac-12)
Friday • 7 p.m.
Television • Pac-12 Network
Live Statistics • GoStanford.com


No. 2 Stanford (20-1, 12-0 Pac-12) vs. Utah (13-10, 5-7 Pac-12)
Sunday • 2 p.m. 
Television • Pac-12 Network
Live Statistics • GoStanford.com

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PROMOTIONS: Halloween isn't over yet! Free candy buckets will be given to the first 300 kids in attendance on Friday and the team will stick around after the match for trick-or-treating. Sunday's match is Equality Night, celebrating the inclusion and diversity in sports. Postmatch fans can enjoy ice cream sundaes with the team. For all of this season's promotions, click here.

SCOUTING COLORADO: Colorado enters the week in a three-way tie for seventh place in the Pac-12 at 5-7. The Buffaloes, who rank second in the conference in blocks per set (2.60), are coming off a four-set win over then-No. 21 Washington last week. Senior outside hitter Alexa Smith leads the team and is ninth in the league with 3.74 kills and 4.34 points per set. Senior middle blocker Naghede Abu is second in the Pac-12 with a .372 attack percentage and third in blocks per set (1.34). Colorado runs a 6-2 offense with sophomore Brynna DeLuzio (5.93 aps) and freshman Jenna Ewert (4.95 aps), who is the younger sister of Stanford men's volleyball standout Jordan Ewert.

THE SERIES WITH THE BUFFALOES: Stanford holds a 19-1 lead in the all-time series against Colorado. The Cardinal has won five in a row, including a sweep in Boulder earlier this season in which Kathryn Plummer had 23 kills and hit .400 to lead Stanford. The Buffaloes lone win came on Oct. 18, 2015 at Colorado.

SCOUTING UTAH: Utah is also in a three-way tie for seventh in the conference with Colorado and Washington. The Utes have won four of their last six matches and are second in the Pac-12 in service aces (1.48). Junior setter Bailey Choy controls the offense with 8.27 assists per set and is seventh in the league with 0.33 aces per set. Sophomore outside hitter Dani Drews paces the team and is fourth in the Pac-12 with 0.36 aces per set, sixth in points (4.41) and eighth in kills (3.80).

THE SERIES WITH THE UTES: Stanford is 15-2 all-time against Utah. The Cardinal defeated the Utes, 3-1, earlier this season in Salt Lake City. Kathryn Plummer and Audriana Fitzmorris each had 18 kills, while Morgan Hentz collected 26 digs in the victory. The most recent Utah win came in four sets on Oct. 9, 2016 at Stanford.

NATIONAL POLL: Stanford remained No. 2 in the AVCA Coaches Poll again this week, receiving 12 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, Illinois and Wisconsin in the top 5. Six Pac-12 squads are ranked.

LAST WEEK: Stanford swept the LA schools on the road to improve to 12-0 in the Pac-12. The Cardinal hit .300 as a team in the two matches and held the Trojans and Bruins to a combined .149 clip. Kathryn Plummer led the team with 4.67 kills and 3.33 digs per set, while Tami Alade was named the Pac-12 Defensive Player of the Week after averaging 1.67 blocks per set.
 


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 FINALIST: Middle blocker Tami Alade is one of 10 finalists for the Senior CLASS Award. The award recognizes student-athletes who have notable achievements in four areas of excellence: community, classroom, character and competition. Fan voting is open now! Click here to vote for Tami.
 


TOP 25 WINS: Stanford is the only Division I women's volleyball program to have 12 wins against team currently ranked in the AVCA top 25 this season. Stanford is 12-1 against ranked opponents this season.

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.