Three Top-10 Matchups in TempeThree Top-10 Matchups in Tempe
Beach Volleyball

Three Top-10 Matchups in Tempe

Notables

  • No. 2 Stanford travels to the site of the 2024 Pac-12 Championships this weekend for its first true taste of conference action at the Pac-12 South Tournament in Tempe, Ariz. March 8-9.  Stanford faces a rematch with No. 1 UCLA and a matchup with host No. 10 Arizona State on March 8 while matches with the No. 7 Golden Bears and Ducks are set for March 9. 
  • All four matches will be televised on Pac-12 Washington. Live stats are available for all matches and are linked in the schedule below.
  • The Cardinal embraced a rainy weekend in the Bay Area March 1-2, posting a 3-0 record hosting the Battle of the Bay at Stanford Beach Volleyball Stadium. Stanford opened play with a 3-2 victory over No. 6 TCU and followed with two 5-0 sweeps of Northern California opponents UC Davis and San Jose State.
  • Not only is Stanford beach volleyball currently ranked No. 2 in the nation, its best ranking in program history, but the team is also led by three of the winningest players in program history— Kate Reilly (tied for second, 73 wins), Maya Harvey (third, 70 wins), and Xolani Hodel (fourth, 67 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 the winningest pair in program history in sophomores Kelly Belardi and Ashley Vincent (35 wins in 42 matches played together) and 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. Compared to the other top five programs in the AVCA rankings, the Cardinal has three more underclassmen in its lineups than any other top-five ranked team in the nation (based on the average of the last two matches played and including redshirts). 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. 
    • School- Average number of underclassmen in lineup (# in each of last two matches played)
      • Stanford- 6.5 (6/7)
      • UCLA- 3 (3/3)
      • USC- 3.5 (3/4)
      • Florida State- 2 (3/1)
      • TCU- 3 (3/3)
  • Next up, Stanford returns home to The Farm for its final two matches of the winter quarter at Stanford Beach Volleyball Stadium March 15. The Cardinal hosts the University of North Florida and Texas A&M Corpus Christi at 12 and 2 p.m., respectively.