A Look Back on a ChampionshipA Look Back on a Championship
David Hague
Women's Volleyball

A Look Back on a Championship

Final PDF Opens in a new window

STANFORD, Calif. - It may have not been the path the preseason No. 1 Cardinal thought it would take, but it ended exactly where it wanted – with the program's ninth NCAA title. Stanford was 30-4 overall, won its third straight Pac-12 championship and repeated as national champions for the first time since 1996-97. The team featured six All-Americans, including Honda Award winner Jenna Gray and VolleyballMag.com Player of the Year Kathryn Plummer.

Stanford advanced to its 23rd national semifinal with a sweep over Penn State in the regional final at Maples Pavilion. The Cardinal continued its dominance over the Big Ten, sweeping Minnesota and Wisconsin in the final four in Pittsburgh. Stanford's senior class became the second in program history to win three national titles in four seasons. This year's class finished with a career record of 121-16, including a 22-1 mark in the NCAA Tournament.

Kevin Hambly became the seventh head coach in Division I women's volleyball to lead a school to back-to-back titles. Hambly is now 94-9 (.913) in three seasons on The Farm, mentoring eight AVCA All-Americans to 16 awards and three Academic All-Americans. 
 


BY THE NUMBERS: The 2019 season marked Stanford's 39th 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 titles (9), more NCAA Tournament matches (131), made more Final Four appearances (23) and been in the national championship match (17) more times than any other program in the nation. 

CONFERENCE CHAMPIONS: The Cardinal captured its third straight Pac-12 title and 19th overall with a sweep at Washington State (Nov. 26). It was the program's 22nd conference championship overall. It marked the 31st top-2 standing in Pac-10/12 play in the past 34 seasons. Stanford has claimed 10 of the past 14 Pac-12 titles. 

ALL-AMERICANS: For the seventh straight season, at least four Cardinal were named AVCA All-Americans. Jenna Gray and Morgan Hentz were the 10th and 11th Cardinal to be three-time first-team selections, respectively. Audriana Fitzmorris, now a three-time All-American, and Madeleine Gates were both third team.
 


SENIOR CLASS AWARD: Outside hitter Kathryn Plummer was the 2019 winner of the Senior CLASS Award, presented to a student-athlete who excels in four areas of excellence: classroom, community, character and competition.

ELITE HONOR: Junior Meghan McClure was the recipient of the NCAA Elite 90 award, given to the student-athlete with the highest cumulative GPA at the championship site. A science, technology and society major, McClure carries a 3.965 GPA on a 4.0 scale and was the second straight Cardinal to win the award.
 


ALL-REGION RECOGNITION: Five Cardinal players secured AVCA All-Pacific North Region accolades. Seniors Audriana Fitzmorris, Madeleine Gates, Jenna Gray and Morgan Hentz are all multiple-time selections. Junior Meghan McClure landed on the honorable mention list.

ACADEMIC ALL-AMERICANS: Junior Meghan McClure (first team) and senior Audriana Fitzmorris (second team) were named CoSIDA Academic All-Americans, bringing Stanford's total award count to 21. Head coach Kevin Hambly has mentored three Academic All-Americans at Stanford.
 


SETTER OF THE YEAR: Jenna Gray was the second Stanford player to earn three straight Pac-12 Setter of the Year honors since the award began in 2011, joining Madi Bugg (2013-15). The Shawnee, Kansas, native paced the league and was seventh nationally with 11.62 assists per set. She was the NCAA's active leader in career assists, and guided the the Cardinal to a Pac-12-best .302 team hitting percentage, ranking second in the nation.
 


LIBERO OF THE YEAR: For three consecutive seasons, Morgan Hentz has been named the Pac-12 Libero of the Year. She is the first Cardinal player to earn the honor since the award's inception in 2011. She led the conference with 5.03 digs per set and has just 11 reception errors on the season. The Lakeside Park, Kentucky, native broke the school record for career digs in November. She recorded double-digit digs in all but two matches in 2019, and reached the 20-plus dig mark in 18 matches.
 


PAC-12 HONORS: Six Cardinal players were recognized by the conference with All-Pac-12 awards. Seniors Audriana Fitzmorris (three-time), Madeleine Gates (two-time), Jenna Gray (three-time) and Morgan Hentz (three-time) are all repeat honorees. Junior Meghan McClure and freshman Kendall Kipp were named honorable mention, while Kipp was also selected to the All-Pac-12 Freshman Team.
 


MORE PAC-12 RECOGNITION: Senior Morgan Hentz was tabbed the Pac-12 Scholar-Athlete of the Year. The libero carries a 3.59 GPA in psychology with an emphasis in health and development. She is the fourth Cardinal player to win the award, joining Cynthia Barboza (2008), Jordan Burgess (2015) and Tami Alade (2018).

PAC-12 IN THE TOURNEY: Six Pac-12 teams qualified for the NCAA Tournament. It marked  the 20th consecutive season in which the Pac-12 sent at least six teams into the postseason, and the 28th overall.

STANFORD VS. THE FIELD: The Cardinal played 17 matches against the 2019 NCAA field, posting a 16-4 record. Stanford was 7-2 against Pac-12 teams in the tournament, and picked up nonconference wins over No. 10 seed Florida, No. 7 seed Minnesota, No. 5 seed Nebraska, No. 11 seed Penn State (twice), No. 2 seed Texas, No. 4 seed Wisconsin, Denver and Cal Poly.

HOME SWEET HOME: In three seasons under Kevin Hambly, Stanford is 45-2 at Maples Pavilion. The Cardinal won 32 in a row at home with Hambly at the helm before falling to BYU on Sept. 21. 

SENIOR LEADERSHIP: Stanford's senior class boasted a record of 121-16, three Pac-12 championships (2017, 2018, 2019) and three NCAA titles (2016, 2018, 2019).
 


PLAYERS OF THE WEEK: Stanford had eight player of the week awards in 2019... 
Sept. 9 - Kathryn Plummer (Offensive)
Sept. 23 - Kendall Kipp (Freshman)
Oct. 7 - Audriana Fitzmorris (Offensive), Madeleine Gates (Defensive), Kendall Kipp (Freshman)
Oct. 14 - Kendall Kipp (Freshman)
Oct. 28 - Morgan Hentz (Defensive)
Nov. 25 - Morgan Hentz (Defensive)
Dec. 2 - Morgan Hentz (Defensive)

STATISTICAL LEADERS: Jenna Gray was seventh in the nation with 11.62 assists per set. The senior accumulated 5,485 career assists - seventh-most in Pac-12 history. Morgan Hentz was the 14th Pac-12 player to record 2,000 career digs and was fifth among the NCAA's active leaders (2,310). Third among active players in the NCAA, Audriana Fitzmorris recorded her 600th block on Dec. 7, becoming just the fifth player in school history to hit the mark, and finished tied for 11th in Pac-12 history with 613. Kathryn Plummer's 1,975 career kills ranked third in school history and was fourth among active players in the NCAA.
 


RECORD SET: Senior Morgan Hentz tallied 20 digs at Utah on Nov. 22, breaking Gabi Ailes's school record for career digs. The libero now has 2,293 and ranks fourth all-time in Pac-12 history.

MILESTONE REACHED: Senior Jenna Gray became just the fourth player in school history to register 5,000 career assists. She hit the milestone at Arizona on Nov. 9 and had 5,485, putting her second on the Cardinal's career list and first in the rally-scoring era to 25.

IMPRESSIVE PERFORMANCE: Kathryn Plummer's 34 kills against Texas were the second-most in school history in the rally-scoring era to 25, and the most by a Cardinal player since 2010.
 


THE HAMBLY FILE: Kevin Hambly coached 12 AVCA All-Americans to 19 honors during his time at Illinois. He's had eight Cardinal players rack up 16 honors in three seasons at Stanford. He is the third head coach to lead Stanford to a national championship. The 2018 Pac-12 Coach of the Year became the first Cardinal head coach (any sport) to win an NCAA title in one of his first two seasons on The Farm since 2005.