Notables
- No. 3 Stanford springs back into action for four more matches this week, traveling to Baton Rouge, La. to compete in the Death Volley Invitational at Louisiana State University March 29-30. The Cardinal meets three top-10 foes and all ranked opponents in Louisiana, with matchups scheduled against host No. 17 FAU and No. 10 LSU on Friday, and No. 4 TCU and No. 5 Florida State on Saturday.
- All matches will be streamed on VBTV featuring announcer Mark Schuermann. Live stats will not be available.
- No. 3 Stanford kicked off its spring break with two wins Monday, besting San Francisco and Saint Mary's 5-0 on The Farm in sweep victories. The Cardinal did not drop a set throughout the two matches on an overcast Monday afternoon. Playing for the first time in eight days and with newer pairings on courts three through five, Stanford looked ready for its second half of the season which is stacked with many top-20 matches before the 2024 Pac-12 Championship.
- The pairing of junior Taylor Wilson and freshman Ruby Sorra has proven to be a great one for the Cardinal. The duo spent time training in the fall for the U21 World Championships (Taylor, for Team USA and Ruby, for Team Canada) and found a rhythm playing together. They are the Cardinal's current winningest pair, sitting at 13-3 with all losses coming to top-10 ranked pairs.
- The Cardinal has spent the entire 2024 season as one of the top three teams in the nation according to the AVCA Coaches Poll. This is largely in part to its leadership by three of the winningest players in program history— Kate Reilly (second, 81 wins), Maya Harvey (third, 75 wins), and Xolani Hodel (fourth, 74 wins). All three are members of the 2019-20 signing class (first played during the 2021 season), largely regarded then as the most decorated incoming freshman class to come to The Farm since the inception of the program. Since 2021, the Cardinal has recorded three back-to-back-to-back 20+ win seasons (each growing the program's record win total for a single season) and three consecutive appearances to the NCAA Championships.
- The Cardinal’s lineup also boasts four powerhouse first-year players— Ruby Sorra, Clara Stowell, Brooke Rockwell, and Chloe Hoffman— three of whom (Sorra, Rockwell, Hoffman) have seen playing time in every single match this season.
- More than half of Stanford’s pairs in all matches this season have come from players in their first or second years playing collegiate beach volleyball. In fact, there is not a single pair that has played this season for the Cardinal that has not featured an underclassman as one of its two members.