TUCSON, Ariz. – Missing three starters, No. 15 Stanford dropped a 25-19, 25-14, 25-23 decision against Arizona, Friday, at the McKale Center.
The Cardinal (12-7, 7-4 Pac-12) played without starting setter Kami Miner, starting opposite Kendall Kipp and starting defensive specialist Alex Lougeay, who all missed the match due to injury. By the end of the match, the Cardinal had only nine available players.
Junior Selina Xu, who was also battling an injury, started at setter, but was replaced by sophomore Malia Tufuga in the second. Xu recorded 11 assists, a dig and an ace in one and a half sets played, while Tufuga had a career-high 10 assists, four digs and a block.
Arizona (13-9, 5-6 Pac-12) hit .303 for the match and held Stanford to a .176 clip. The Wildcats out dug the Cardinal 46-39. Both teams recorded 6.0 blocks and five aces. It was just the 10th win for Arizona over Stanford all-time.
Redshirt sophomore Caitie Baird led Stanford with eight kills, four blocks, three digs and an ace. Freshman Sami Francis, who started the match at outside hitter and finished it at the opposite position, tallied seven kills, two digs and a block.
Redshirt sophomore middle blocker McKenna Vicini hit .625 with five kills and had two blocks for Stanford. Senior middle blocker Holly Campbell notched four blocks, two kills and a career-high two aces.
Junior Natalie Berty started the match at opposite and moved to the left side to start the third set. She finished with five kills and seven digs. Sophomore libero Elena Oglivie tied for a match-best 12 digs, while freshman defensive specialist Taylor Beaven collected nine digs and had an ace.
Arizona was led by Sofia Maldonado Diaz's 15 kills and five digs, while Puk Stubbe added 12 kills and seven digs. Setter Emery Herman turned in a double-double for the Wildcats with 34 assists and 12 digs.
Stanford closes out a four-match road trip on Sunday at Arizona State. First serve is scheduled for 1 p.m. from Desert Financial Arena.