Courtesy: Stanford Athletics

11/30/2015

Maples Pavilion » Dec. 3-4
Match	Date/Time (PT)	Team 1	Team 2	Details
1	Dec. 3 - 4:30 p.m.	(RV) Loyola Marymount 3	No. 13 Colorado State 1	Box Score | Quotes
2	Dec. 3 - 7 p.m.	(8) No. 6 Stanford 3	New Mexico State 0	Box Score | Quotes
3	Dec. 4 - 7 p.m.	(RV) Loyola Marymount	(8) No. 6 Stanford	Live Statistics | Live Stream

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Stanford Notes • New Mexico State Notes • LMU Notes • Colorado State Notes

STANFORD, Calif. - The No. 6 Stanford women's volleyball team (22-6) begins its quest for a seventh national championship this week, hosting the NCAA First and Second Rounds at Maples Pavilion. The tournament's eighth overall seed, the Cardinal will face New Mexico State (28-5) in the opening round on Thursday night.

LOOKING AHEAD: Should Stanford advance plast this week, the team will travel to San Diego, California for the San Diego Regional, Dec. 11-12. The Final Four will be held Dec. 17-19 at the Century Link Center in Omaha, Nebraska.

SCOUTING NEW MEXICO STATE: New Mexicso State earned an automatic berth into the NCAA Tourmanet by going undefeated in WAC play and winning their conference tournament. It marks the eighth NCAA postseason appearance for the squad. Led by 18th-year head coach Mike Jordan, who earned his fifth WAC Coach of the Year honors this season, the Aggies are hitting .287 as a team and averaging 14.36 kills and 14.14 digs per set. NM State is paced by WAC Player of the Year Gwen Murphy, who turns in 3.29 kills per set on a .425 hitting percentage. Senior outside hitter Nathali Castellanos and sophomore middle blocker Sasha-Lee Thomas both earned All-WAC Second Team honors, while setter Brianna Ainsworth and outside hitter Tatyana Battle were both named to the All-WAC Freshman Team.

THE SERIES WITH THE AGGIES: Stanford is 2-0 all-time against New Mexico State. The most recent meeting between the programs came in 2008 when the Cardinal swept the Aggies at Maples Pavilion. The only other meeting was at a tournament in San Jose, California in 1979.

SCOUTING LOYOLA MARYMOUNT: LMU is making its third trip to Maples Pavilion for the NCAA Tournament in the past four seasons. The Lions, which tied for third in the West Coast Conference for its best finish since 2003, are one of four WCC teams in the field and are making their 13th postseason appearance. Sophomore outside hitter Sarah Sponcil, who was an All-WCC First Team selection, leads the team with 3.60 kills and 2.97 digs per set. Setter Hannah Tedrow was also a first team All-WCC choice as she controls the offense with 11.70 assists per set.

THE SERIES WITH THE LIONS: Stanford is 3-0 all-time against Loyola Marymount having twice faced off against the Lions in the NCAA Tournament. In the most recent meeting, the Cardinal swept LMU in the first round of the NCAA Tournament in Santa Barbara in 2000.

SCOUTING COLORADO STATE: Colorado State enters the postseason ranked 13th overall and riding a 20-match winning streak. The Rams, which went undefeated (18-0) in Mountain West play for just the second time in program history, are making their 21st overall postseason appearance. Senior opposite Adrianna Culbert (2.79 kps/2.65 dps) was named the Mountain West Player of the Year, while senior transfer Alex Reid (3.18 kps/2.89 dps) was tabbed the conference's Newcomer of the Year. Senior libero Jaime Colaizzi (4.12 dps), redshirt junior middle blocker Acacia Andrews (2.22 kps/1.31 bps) and sophomore middle blocker Alexandra Poletto (2.21 kps/1.33 bps) also earned All-Mountain West honors.

THE SERIES WITH THE RAMS: Stanford holds an 11-0 advantage in the all-time series with Colorado State, including a 5-0 mark in the postseason. The most recent meeting between the Rams and Cardinal was a 3-0 Stanford sweep in the second round of the 2010 NCAA Tournament in Maples Pavilion.

BEEN THERE, DONE THAT: This marks Stanford's 35th consecutive NCAA postseason appearance. The Cardinal is one of only two programs in the nation to have appeared in every NCAA Tournament since the NCAA Championship began in 1981 (Penn State is the other). Stanford has won more NCAA Tournament matches (108), made more Final Four appearances (19) and been in the national championship match (14) more times than any other program in the nation.

A BUGG'S LIFE: Senior Madi Bugg was tabbed the Pac-12 Setter of the Year for the third straight season. The Apex, N.C., native leads the Pac-12 with 11.04 assists per set and recently passed Carrie Feldman (1989-92) for third place on the program's career assists list (4,946). She needs just 54 assists to join Bryn Kehoe (5,956) and Wendy Rush (5,003) as the only Cardinal players to reach the 5,000 assists plateau.

FRESHMAN OF THE YEAR: Freshman opposite Hayley Hodson is the 11th Cardinal player to be named the Pac-12 Freshman of the Year and the first since Alix Klineman in 2007. She leads the Cardinal in kills (3.85), aces (0.35) and points (4.58) per set this season, becoming the first freshman to lead the team in kills since Klineman.

PAC-12 HONORS: Five Cardinal players have been recognized by the conference this season. Seniors Brittany Howard and Madi Bugg were joined by redshirt sophomore Merete Lutz and freshman Hayley Hodson on the 18-player all-conference team. Hodson was also named to the Pac-12 All-Freshman Team, while libero Halland McKenna nabbed all-freshman honorable mention honors.

PAC-12 IN THE TOURNEY: The Pac-12 earned seven berths into the 2015 NCAA Tournament, the second-most behing the Big Ten (9). It is the 16th consecutive year in which the Pac-12 has sent at least six teams into the postseason and the 24th overall. Pac-12 teams posted a 97-31 (.758) record versus other conferences this season.

STANFORD VS. THE FIELD: The Cardinal has played 15 matches against the 2015 NCAA field, posting a 10-5 record. Stanford went 7-3 against Pac-12 teams in the tournament, and picked up non-conference wins over Illinois, Minnesota and Texas A&M.

CAREER MILESTONES: Senior outside hitter Brittany Howard, a four-year starter and all-conference selection, registered her 1,000th career kill at Arizona State (Oct. 2), becoming the 17th player in program history to accomplish that feat. At Utah (Oct. 16), she became the 10th Cardinal player to accumulate 1,000 career kills and digs. This season, Howard is averaging a career-best 3.06 kills and 3.53 points per set on a .305 attack percentage. Over her last five matches, she has tallied 61 kills and just six attack errors to hit .359.

THE BURGESS FILE: A two-time All-American, Jordan Burgess became just the ninth Cardinal player to accumulate more than 1,000 career kills and digs. Burgess now has 1,242 kills and moved into the top-10 in career digs with 1,312. She recently passed Kerri Walsh for sixth on the program's career digs list.

BLOCKING DUO: Redshirt sophomores Ivana Vanjak, who transitioned from an outside hitter, and Merete Lutz rank sixth and seventh in the Pac-12 with 1.24 and 1.22 blocks, respectively. Washington is the only other school in the conference with two players in the top-10 in blocks this season.

HOME SWEET HOME: Stanford's senior class is 60-2 at Maples Pavilion. The Cardinal's only two losses on its home court since 2012 have come at the hands of USC, both in five sets (Oct. 30, 2013 and Sept. 27, 2015). Traditionally, Stanford has always protected its home court. The Cardinal is 209-19 at home under head coach John Dunning.

NATIONAL POLL: Stanford remained at No. 6 in the AVCA poll this week after posting wins over Cal and UCLA last week. Washington moved into the top spot, while USC dropped to No. 2. Texas, Minnesota and Nebraska round out the top 5. Four Pac-12 squads are ranked in the top 25 with UCLA coming in at No. 12.

PAC-12 SCHOLAR-ATHLETE OF THE YEAR: Jordan Burgess was named the Pac-12 Scholar-Athlete of the Year, becoming the second Cardinal player to receive the honor since the award's inception in 2008-09 when Cynthia Barboza won the inaugural award.

FRESHMAN OF THE WEEK: Hayley Hodson has been named the Pac-12 Freshman of the Week five times this season, including three times in October (Aug. 31, Oct. 5, Oct. 12, Oct. 26, Nov. 30). Libero Halland McKenna nabbed the honor on Nov. 2, bringing the Cardinal's total award count to 15 since the award's inception in 2011 (the most all-time).

PAC-12 CONFERENCE FINISHES: The Cardinal finished third in the Pac-12 this season for the first time in program history. It marks the 28th top-3 standing in conference play in the past 30 seasons. Stanford has won 16 conference championship in the Pac-10/12 era, and 19 overall in program history. Stanford has claimed seven of the past 10 Pac-12 titles and eight overall under head coach John Dunning.

TOP SENIOR: Jordan Burgess is one of 10 finalists in the nation for the Senior CLASS Award, which is based on notable achievements in four areas of excellence: community, classroom, character and competition. Fans are encouraged to vote for their favortie on the Senior CLASS website (seniorclassaward.com) through December 7.

HEAD COACH JOHN DUNNING: Now in his 15th season at the helm of the Cardinal program, head coach John Dunning is one of the most accomplished coaches in the collegiate volleyball world. Dunning has four national championships under his belt, has taken teams to 10 Final Fours and carried six of his 14 Stanford teams to the national title match.

DUNNING BY THE NUMBERS: In 30 years as a head coach, John Dunning is 860-177 (.829), giving him a winning percentage that ranks among the top 5 all-time for Division I coaches. He is 423-75 in his 15 seasons on The Farm, leading all active coaches in the conference by winning percentage (.849).