Women’s volleyball handles Arizona State in straight sets

Freshman Hayley Hodson and the No. 7 Stanford women’s volleyball team (14-5, 8-3 Pac-12) earned their third straight victory on Wednesday as they took down No. 14 Arizona State (17-5, 6-5) in straight sets, 25-17, 25-23, 25-9.

Hodson led an impressive team effort with 14 kills as the Cardinal steadily and systematically dismantled their Pac-12 rivals. Sophomore Ivana Vanjak added 6 more kills on just 10 attempts and made 6 of the team’s 11 blocks as Stanford earned its revenge for a 3-1 loss to ASU in Tempe on Oct. 2.

Freshman Hayley Hodson (above) led an impressive effort by the No. 7 women’s volleyball team, recording 14 kills in Stanford’s 25-17, 25-23, 25-9 victory over Arizona State (MIKE RASAY/stanfordphoto.com)

The Stanford attack started rolling from the beginning of the first set, with the team winning five consecutive points early to force an Arizona State timeout. The Sun Devils began closing the lead shortly thereafter, overcoming some tough Cardinal defense to narrow Stanford’s advantage to one until Hodson managed to reignite her side with a much-needed kill. ASU coach Jason Watson tried to slow things with his second timeout, but his Sun Devils failed to break senior setter Madi Bugg’s serve as Stanford took the set 25-17.

The second set started out similarly t0 the first, with the Cardinal taking an 11-5 lead before Arizona State began to claw its way back. The Sun Devils took three consecutive set points to pull within one and force a Stanford timeout. Hodson again came up when the team needed her, however, when she landed another big kill to put the Cardinal up 2-0.

“It’s been pretty interesting because we recruited [Hayley] as an outside hitter on the left side, so she’s actually playing in somewhat of a new position on the right,” remarked head coach John Dunning after the game. “The first two or three weeks she did fine but she seemed like she didn’t know it that well as you would expect, but each week since her feel for the position has gotten better.”

Things clicked even more thoroughly for Stanford after the break in the third set as the team won 12 of 13 points in a row and weathered two Sun Devil timeouts to build a 17-5 lead. Senior outside hitter Jordan Burgess hit two service aces and Hodson and Bugg contributed kills before ASU finally managed to temporarily halt Stanford’s run. The Cardinal’s efficiency seemed to break the willpower of the trailing Sun Devils, however, and Burgess and Bugg put an accent mark on the victory with impressive consecutive plays to take the set and the match by a 25-9 margin.

“We’ve been focusing on how we start games lately,” Burgess said after the match. “After a break like that it’s easy to get cold, so we focused really hard on pushing right from the beginning.”

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Stanford will close its four game home stand against No. 19 Arizona this Friday. The Cardinal have won 18 straight against the Wildcats, a streak last extended by a dramatic fifth-set Stanford victory when the two teams played in Tuscon on Sept. 30.

Arizona has yet to win against a top-15 ranked team this season in seven attempts, but the Wildcats have stayed competitive in the vast majority of their matches and have only once been shut out this season. Setter Penina Snuka currently leads the conference with 891 assists, and Stanford will hope to continue its kill efficiency in order to limit her impact when the team arrives in Maples.

“They’re a totally different team from last year,” said Dunning. “All three of their outside hitters are new to their program, so the last time we played we didn’t really know how to play them. This time we will. This time I think we’re more focused and more ready than we were last time… I think it’ll be a really good match.”

Watch Stanford take on Arizona this Friday at 8 p.m. on Pac-12 Networks.

Contact Andrew Mather at amather ‘at’ stanford.edu.