Notables
- No. 5 Stanford hosts its first tournament of the year Friday-Saturday, welcoming Sacramento State, Saint Mary's, Pacific and Santa Clara Feb. 28-March 1. Live stats for each matchup are available via Statbroadcast.
- No. 5 Stanford finished its trip to Hawaii with two victories, sweeping both No. 12 Hawai’i and No. 11 Arizona State Saturday on Queen’s Beach. The Cardinal ended its time in Honolulu with a 3-3 record, including wins over No. 1, No. 11 and No. 12 in the preseason AVCA Beach Volleyball ranking. The Cardinal fell No. 2 TCU, No. 3 UCLA and No. 7 LMU all by the same score, 3-2.
- Stanford sent the same five pairs to each of its first six matches. After the first weekend of play, the Cardinal's pairs sit at:
- No. 1- Brooke Rockwell and Ruby Sora- 4-2
- No. 2- Taylor Wilson and Charlotta Bell- 3-3
- No. 3- Kelly Belardi and Avery Jackson- 5-1
- No. 4- Clara Stowell and Chloe Hoffman- 5-1
- No. 5- Emma Morris and Ashley Vincent- 2-4
- The 2024 season cemented Stanford beach volleyball’s position as one of the best programs in the country, guided by its best-ever record and countless wins over top-ranked teams from across the nation. The Cardinal made its fourth consecutive appearance at the NCAA Championship, earning the second-highest at large bid behind UCLA, and won its first-round match at the national title chase 3-0, just the second national championship tournament victory in program history.
- The nation and conference both celebrated the Cardinal’s incredible 2024 season, as Stanford tabbed seven conference honors, four all-America selections and two top-flight awards. Then-Freshman Brooke Rockwell was named Pac-12 Freshman of the Year and was also selected as a member of the Pac-12 All-Conference First Team with partner senior Xolani Hodel and fellow freshman Ruby Sorra. Junior Taylor Wilson was named to the all-conference second team. Rockwell was also part of the Pac-12 All-Freshman Team and was joined by Sorra. Rockwell is the Cardinal's first conference player yearly award winner since 2017, when Kathryn Plummer won the same award. Stanford's three first-team selections and two pairs (Hodel and Rockwell, Wilson and Sorra) earning honors both marked new program-bests.
- For the first time in program history, four members of the Stanford beach volleyball program were named to the American Volleyball Coaches Association All-America Teams. Rockwell and Hodel were each named to the All-America First Team while Wilson and Sorra each earned second-team honors. Hodel became a four-time all-American with this year's honor, selected to the first team last year and the second team in 2021 and 2022, while Rockwell, Sorra, and Wilson each earned their first all-American recognition. Rockwell was the lone freshman on this year's first team and her and Sorra made up half of all freshmen selected as All-Americans in 2024.
- Sorra and Wilson, alongside Belardi and Hoffman, each were honored as AVCA 2024 Top Flight award winners. The Top Flight program, now in its sixth year, recognizes beach pairs who compete in at least 15 matches together at a specific flight and win at least 75% of their matches
- Stanford's momentum for the future continues to be bright with a youth-dominated program and a strong recruiting class joining as freshmen for the 2025 season. Joining the Cardinal on The Farm this season are Charlotta Bell, Indigo Clarke (sister of junior Phoenix Clarke), Babi Gubbins, Elena Fisher, Avery Jackson, Ofure Odigie and Logan Tusher.
- Next up, the Cardinal continues hosting at Stanford Beach Volleyball Stadium, welcoming six of its seven MPSF conference opponents to The Farm for the MPSF Mid-Season Rumble March 7-8. Stanford faces Oregon and UCLA March 7 and USC and California March 8.