Women’s volleyball completes sweep of Washington schools

After defeating the No. 4 Washington Huskies on Wednesday, the No. 11 Stanford women’s volleyball team (13-5, 7-3 Pac-12) continued its home-court dominance with a 25-20, 25-20, 25-19 sweep of the Washington State Cougars (14-7, 3-6) Friday evening at Maples Pavilion.

Senior outside hitter Brittany Howard led the Cardinal with 12 kills, with junior middle blocker Merete Lutz in a close second with 10. The Cougars were missing junior outside hitter Kyra Holt due to injury but kept the scores close throughout, with freshman outside hitter McKenna Woodford putting up a dominant performance, notching a career-high 18 kills.

Stanford got off to a strong start in the first set, and although the Cougars fought hard, the Cardinal trailed only twice, winning the set 25-20 on a pair of kills from seniors Jordan Burgess and Lutz. Despite leading the Pac-12 in aces, Washington State struggled on the serve, conceding 5 points on service errors.

The teams began the second set neck and neck, but the Cardinal went on a 7-3 run to go up 22-17, their biggest lead of the set. Stanford’s offense was largely propelled by Burgess, who had 6 of the team’s 18 kills. Although the score remained relatively close, Stanford went on to win the set 25-20, hitting .452 to the Cougars’ .273.

In the third set, Washington State pushed back, leading four times and using its strong block to hold Stanford to a .243 hitting percentage. However, the Cougars’ attack struggled, as they hit only .022, and the Cardinal went on a 15-9 run to take the set 25-19.

The Cardinal improve to a home record of 204-19 under head coach John Dunning and continue their home stand on Wednesday night at 7:30 p.m. as they take on the No. 13 Arizona State Sun Devils. The game will be broadcasted live on Pac-12 Networks.

Contact Olivia Hummer at ohummer ‘at’ stanford.edu.