STANFORD, Calif. – Led by Elia Rubin and Jordyn Harvey, No. 5 Stanford opened the NCAA Tournament on Friday with a sweep over Sacramento State, 25-19, 25-17, 25-19, at Maples Pavilion.
The No. 2 seed in the Louisville Region, Stanford (26-4) improved to 43-0 in the opening round of the NCAA Tournament. The Cardinal owns the most NCAA Tournament victories in the nation with 139.
Rubin led all players with 15 kills on .423 hitting, five digs and two assists. The junior also matched her season-high with three aces – one of three Cardinal with multiple aces on the night.
As a team, Stanford hit .392 while holding Sacramento State (21-12) to a .212 clip. The Cardinal tied its season-high with 12 aces, including a career-best four by outside hitter Ipar Kurt.
Harvey hit .350 with 10 kills, four digs, three blocks and an ace, while Kurt added nine kills on .500 hitting. Middle blocker Sami Francis turned in four kills on a .500 attack percentage and three blocks. Freshman Lizzy Andrew chipped in with four kills and two blocks.
Setter Kami Miner controlled the offense with 37 assists to go with six digs, two blocks and a kill. Libero Elena Oglivie collected a match-high 12 digs and had two assists and an ace.
Junior defensive specialist Anna Pringle finished one dig shy of her career-high with seven. Redshirt freshman Koko Kirsch matched her career-high with two aces and had a dig and her first career assist in her NCAA Tournament debut. Freshman Taylor Yu had an ace and a dig off the bench.
Sacramento State, which won the Big Sky Tournament title to earn its first postseason berth since 2007, was led by Bridgette Smith and Caitlin Volkmann who each registered nine kills. Opposite Ellie Tisko hit .636 with seven kills on 11 errorless swings.
The Cardinal improves to 5-0 all-time against the Hornets in the NCAA Tournament.
Stanford will square off with (7) Loyola Marymount on Saturday at 6 p.m. on ESPN+ for a spot in the Louisville Regional semifinal.