STANFORD, Calif. - No. 6 Stanford (1-1) remains on the road this week, traveling to Long Beach to take on Long Beach State (0-0) on Friday at 7 p.m. and former Pac-12 foe Oregon State (0-0) on Saturday at 7 p.m. in Walter Pyramid. Friday's match versus The Beach will be streamed on ESPN+.
SERIES AGAINST THE BEACH: Stanford is 16-2 overall against Long Beach State. In the most recent meeting, the Cardinal swept The Beach in the Pyramid in Kevin Hambly's first career match with Stanford.
SERIES AGAINST THE BEAVERS: Stanford is a perfect 75-0 all-time against Oregon State. The teams last met in 2023 during Pac-12 Conference play. In the most recent outing, the Cardinal defeated the Beavers in four sets at Maples Pavilion.
2025 SEASON IN REVIEW: Stanford closed out the 2024 season with a 28-5 overall record and tied for second in its first year in the Atlantic Coast Conference with a 17-3 mark. The Cardinal made its 43rd NCAA postseason appearance in 44 seasons, advancing to its 18th regional final since the tournament expanded to 64 teams in 1998.
STACKED SCHEDULE: Stanford is slated to play 11 matches against teams ranked in the AVCA Preseason Poll, including five against top-5 opponents. The Cardinal will take on No. 1 Nebraska (Aug. 24), No. 5 Texas (Sept. 7), No. 16 Florida (Aug. 22), No. 17 Missouri (Sept. 9) and No. 18 UCLA (Sept. 21) in the nonconference. Stanford will meet No. 3 Pittsburgh (Nov. 14), No. 4 Louisville (Oct. 5 & Nov. 29), No. 10 SMU (Nov. 16) and No. 22 Georgia Tech (Oct. 26 & Nov. 26) in ACC play.
COACHES' PICK: In its second season in the ACC, Stanford was picked to finish third by the league's coaches. Combining with its Pac-12 history, Stanford has finished in the top 4 in league play in 39 of the past 40 seasons, and the top 3 in 37 of 40 campaigns.
BY THE NUMBERS: Stanford has won more NCAA titles (9), more NCAA Tournament matches (141), 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 43 of the 44 NCAA Tournaments all-time.
SENIOR LEADER: Outside hitter Elia Rubin is the only returning All-American on the Cardinal roster in 2025. Last season, she became the 23rd player in program history to register 1,000 career kills, accomplishing that feat against No. 12 SMU. She led the team in 2024 and ranked third in the ACC in points per set (4.54) and was fourth in the conference in kills per set (3.93).
PLAYER OF THE WEEK: Libero Spencer Etzler nabbed her first career weekly honors, collecting ACC Defensive Player and Freshman of the Week honors on Aug. 25. Combining with its Pac-12 selections, the Cardinal now boasts 188 players of the week all-time, including 31 Offensive, 42 Defensive, 6 Setter and 36 Freshman.
2025 ACC Weekly Selections
Aug. 25: Spencer Etzler (Defensive & Freshman)
CARD IN THE CLASSROOM: Elia Rubin was tabbed the Co-ACC Scholar-Athlete of the Year, becoming the sixth Cardinal to earn conference scholar-athlete of the year honors in the past seven seasons and the eighth overall. Rubin was joined by Elena Oglivie as College Sports Communicators Academic All-District selections with Rubin going on to earn CSC Academic All-America second team honors. Stanford also produced 11 All-ACC Academic Team picks.
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. For the third consecutive edition of the Games, Stanford boasted more Team USA selections (37) than any other school.
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 200-43 (.823) in nine seasons on The Farm, mentoring 14 AVCA All-Americans to 29 awards and seven Academic All-Americans (nine awards).
THE HAMBLY FILE: Kevin Hambly coached 12 AVCA All-Americans to 19 honors during his time at Illinois and has now mentored 26 All-Americans to 48 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.