STANFORD, Calif. – No. 9 Stanford earned two resume-building wins Sunday, beating No. 17 Arizona 4-1 at noon and finishing the tournament with a 3-2 win over Bay-Area foe No. 12 California.
Stanford started its day with a top-20 win over No. 17 Arizona. Sophomore Emmy Sharp and senior Jordan McKinney kicked off the Cardinal's winning ways with a straight-set 21-18, 21-13 victory as the fours pair. After the Wildcats tied it up with a win on court two, senior Maddie Dailey and sophomore Maya Harvey gave the lead back to the Cardinal with a 21-16, 21-18 victory as the fives pair. Freshmen Emma Morris and Taylor Wilson sealed the win for the Cardinal coming back from a first-set loss to win sets two and three for the deciding match point.
The Cardinal closed out the competition in the Beach Volleyball Stadium by topping No. 12 California. Stanford came out strong in flight one, with both the twos and fours pairs fighting through tough matches to grab the first two dual points of the match. Sharp and McKinney came back from a first-set loss to win set two, 21-17, and followed with a dominant showing in set three, 15-9, for the first point of the day. Ekstrom and Kriz took the win in set one but fell in a close set-two battle to push it to a third. The third set was a tight back-and-forth battle, but Kriz and Ekstrom found points when it mattered to win 16-14 and earn the dual point. Dailey and Harvey clinched the win over Stanford's cross-bay foe with a straight-set 21-19, 21-17 victory as the fives pair. Cal earned its two points in tough three-set victories on courts one and three.
Stanford leaves the friendly confines of The Farm for Texas next weekend, heading to the TCU Invitational to take on No. 2 TCU, Missouri State, No. 16 Pepperdine and Houston Baptist.
#9 Stanford 4, #17 Arizona 1
#1 Xolani Hodel/Kate Reilly (STAN) def. Alana Rennie/Alex Parkhurst (UA) 18-21, 21-16, 15-7
#2 Sarah Blacker/Maja Kaiser (UA) def. Charlie Ekstrom/Maddi Kriz (STAN) 21-11, 19-21, 15-13
#3 Emma Morris/Taylor Wilson (STAN) def. Jasmine Safar/Dilara Gedikoglu (UA) 16-21, 21-13, 17-15
#4 Emmy Sharp/Jordan McKinney (STAN) def. Abby Russell/Dana Parker (UA) 21-18, 21-13
#5 Maddie Dailey/Maya Harvey (STAN) def. Hope Shannon/Annie Kost (UA) 21-16, 21-18
Order of Finish: 4, 2, 5, 3*, 1
#9 Stanford 3, #12 California 2
#1 Ana Costa/Maya Gessner (Cal) def. Xolani Hodel/Kate Reilly (STAN) 21-17, 21-18
#2 Charlie Ekstrom/Maddi Kriz (STAN) def. Ainsley Radell/Ava Mann (Cal) 21-15, 16-21, 16-14
#3 Lexi McKeown/Ella Dreibholz (Cal) def. Emma Morris/Taylor Wilson (STAN) 21-18, 25-27, 15-11
#4 Emmy Sharp/Jordan McKinney (STAN) def. Alex Young-Gomez/Ashley Delgado (Cal) 16-21, 21-17, 15-9
#5 Maddie Dailey/Maya Harvey (STAN) def. Ella Sears/Natalie Martin (Cal) 21-19, 21-17
Order of Finish: 4, 2, 5*, 1, 3