STANFORD, Calif. - No. 3 Stanford (8-1, 0-0 ACC) begins its inaugural ACC campaign on the road this week, traveling to South Bend, Indiana to face Notre Dame (7-2, 0-0 ACC) on Friday at 3:30 p.m. PT on ACCNX and to Louisville, Kentucky to take on the fifth-ranked Cardinals (8-2, 0-0 ACC) on Sunday at Noon PT on ESPN.
SERIES AGAINST THE FIGHTING IRISH: Stanford is 7-1 all-time versus Notre Dame. The Cardinal won the most recent meeting between the schools, a four-set victory on Sept. 2, 2011 at Maples Pavilion. Notre Dame's lone win came in a sweep at home on Aug. 29, 2009.
SERIES AGAINST THE CARDINALS: The Cardinal is 1-1 overall against Louisville. Last season, Stanford pulled off the reverse sweep of the then-No. 2 Cardinals at the KFC Yum! Center. Louisville defeated the Cardinal in four sets at Maples Pavilion in 2022 in the only other meeting between the teams.
LAST TIME OUT: Stanford closed out its nonconference slate with a four-set win over No. 11 Kentucky at Maples Pavilion. Outside hitter Elia Rubin registered a season-high 21 kills to lead the Cardinal. Setter Kami Miner turned in her seventh double-double of the year (40 A, 11 D), while libero Elena Oglivie matched her season-high with 23 digs.
PACKED THE HOUSE: A record crowd in the Kevin Hambly era of 6,894 watched No. 2 Stanford sweep No. 6 Texas at Maples Pavilion on Sept. 15. The Cardinal held the Longhorns to .125 hitting - their lowest in a match in over 11 years.
STACKED SCHEDULE: Stanford is slated to play 12 matches against teams ranked in the AVCA Preseason Poll, including seven against top-10 opponents. The Cardinal faced No. 1 Texas (W, 3-0), No. 2 Nebraska (L, 3-0), No. 3 Wisconsin (W, 3-1), No. 9 Kentucky (W, 3-1), No. 18 Minnesota (W, 3-2) and No. 24 Marquette (W, 3-0) in the nonconference. Stanford will meet No. 4 Pittsburgh (Oct. 20), No. 6 Louisville (Sept. 29 & Nov. 30), No. 14 Georgia Tech (Nov. 9 & Nov. 27) and No. 20 Florida State (Nov. 3) in ACC play.
COACHES' PICK: In its inaugural ACC season, Stanford was picked to finish second by the league's coaches. The Cardinal captured three first-place votes and placed four on the Preseason All-ACC squad - middle blocker Sami Francis, setter Kami Miner, libero Elena Oglivie and outside hitter Elia Rubin.
MILESTONE UNLOCKED: Kami Miner recorded her 4,000th career assist on Sept. 2 in a four-set win over No. 6 Wisconsin. She became the seventh player in school history to reach the milestone. In the rally-scoring era to 25, Miner is third behind Jenna Gray (5,485) and Madi Bugg (5,014) with 4,247 assists. Her 11.45 career assists per set mark would be a program record in the rally-scoring era to 25.
PLAYERS OF THE WEEK: Kami Miner became the first Stanford player to be recognized by the ACC with a weekly honor, earning Setter of the Week on Sept. 9. Sami Francis followed up with her first career weekly honor, earning Co-Defensive Player of the Week on Sept. 16. Combining with its Pac-12 selections, the Cardinal now boasts 177 players of the week all-time, including 31 Offensive, 38 Defensive, 1 Setter and 34 Freshman.
2024 ACC Weekly Selections
Sept. 9: Kami Miner (Setter)
Sept. 16: Sami Francis (Co-Defensive)
OLYMPIC TRADITION: Stanford alumna Kathryn Plummer ('20) captured a silver medal with the United States at the 2024 Olympic Games in Paris. Plummer, who won three national titles on The Farm (2016, 2018, 2019), is the 11th Olympian in program history. Her spot on the roster extended Stanford’s streak of having at least one former Cardinal player on each indoor U.S. Olympic Team since 1988. A school-record 59 Stanford-affiliated athletes qualified to compete in Paris, capturing a combined 39 medals (also a record). For the third consecutive edition of the Games, Stanford boasted more Team USA selections (37) than any other school.
BY THE NUMBERS: Stanford has won more NCAA titles (9), more NCAA Tournament matches (138), made more Final Four appearances (23) and been in the national championship match (17) more times than any other program in the nation. The Cardinal has qualified for 42 of the 43 NCAA Tournaments all-time.
COACHING EXCELLENCE: Kevin Hambly became the seventh head coach in Division I women’s volleyball to lead a school to back-to-back NCAA titles. Hambly is now 179-38 (.825) in eight seasons on The Farm, mentoring 13 AVCA All-Americans to 26 awards and six Academic All-Americans (eight awards).
THE HAMBLY FILE: Kevin Hambly coached 12 AVCA All-Americans to 19 honors during his time at Illinois and has now mentored 25 All-Americans to 45 awards. He is the third head coach to lead Stanford to a national championship. The two-time 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.