LOUISVILLE, Ky. – The Stanford women’s volleyball season came to an end Saturday with a four-set loss to Louisville in a regional final at Freedom Hall.
Stanford got 14 kills from Elia Rubin and 13 from Ipar Kurt, but was unable to sustain an attack in a 22-25, 25-14, 28-26, 25-20 loss that prevented the Cardinal from reaching a 24th Final Four.
Stanford, the No. 5 overall seed, finished 28-5, while Atlantic Coast Conference foe Louisville (29-5) advanced to the NCAA semifinals at home against ACC champion and No. 1 overall seed Pitt.
After splitting the first two sets, the match swung late in the third set, which featured 11 ties.
Stanford never led in the third until Rubin put the Cardinal up, 24-23, with one of her nine kills in the set. Stanford had two set points, but Louisville fought both of them off and had a set point of its own that Rubin rejected with a kill to tie it, 26-26. However, Louisville won the next two points to win the set.
Stanford took brief leads in the fourth set, the final one at 3-2 on a kill by Sami Francis, but Louisville seized control with a 4-0 run and led the rest of the way. Stanford withstood two match points, on a kill by Ipar Kurt and a Louisville attack error, but couldn’t manage a third, ending the match.
Stanford never maintained a hitting rhythm, hitting .153 for the match. The Cardinal never hit higher than .250 in any set and that came in the first when Francis had five kills and four blocks. Louisville had a .295 final hitting percentage.
Stanford seniors are ACC Setter of the Year Kami Miner, middle blocker Francis, and defensive specialist Taylor Beaven. Libero Elene Oglivie is a fifth-year senior and middle blocker Charity McDowell is a graduate student.