STANFORD, Calif. - Propelled by a season-high 11 aces, the Stanford women's volleyball team dispatched Saint Mary's 25-14, 25-16, 25-14 at Maples Pavilion on Saturday night to conclude its nonconference schedule. It was the second straight sweep for the eighth-ranked Cardinal (6-2), who trounced No. 24 Pacific 3-0 on Friday. Stanford has not yet dropped a set at home this season and has now won 27 consecutive matches at Maples; the last team to hand the Card a loss at home was USC on October 30, 2013.
"We've been through a bit this year--we've had some injuries and things, so it has been hard to feel the flow, but I think we're starting to get there," said Stanford head coach John Dunning after the match. "I thought our whole game fit together better tonight; volleyball is a lot of serve and pass, if you do those well, you've got an advantage. And, I thought we served and passed really well tonight."
Senior setter Madi Bugg led the Cardinal with four aces, including one on the opening serve of the match, and is now the team leader in the category with nine. Highly-touted freshman Hayley Hodson added three aces of her own, with junior Kelsey Humphreys chipping in two.
"We've been working a lot on serve and pass--it's kind of the building block of every team," Bugg said. "We want to be the best team in the country, which means we have to be the best serving and passing team, that definitely has to be our number-one priority. And, I think our team has been frustrated by how many serves we've been missing. We're still trying to find the line between being aggressive, but not missing."
And the Cardinal was not missing early on. The team jumped out to a 6-1 lead against the Gaels in the first set, and was on top 15-6 before Saint Mary's head coach Rob Browning called his second timeout. But, the Gaels were unable to get within five points from there on out, as Stanford cruised to a 25-14 first set victory.
Saint Mary's did not fold immediately, however, and earned its first lead of the match early in the second set on a Hodson error. A run of sloppy play by the Cardinal allowed the Gaels to run their advantage to 7-3 and forced Stanford into a timeout. But kills by junior Merete Lutz and senior Brittany Howard, and two aces from Bugg pulled the Cardinal even at 9-9. A Jordan Burgess kill with the score tied 12-12 put Stanford in front for good. That keyed a 13-4 run as Dunning's group closed out the set 25-16.
Stanford rolled its momentum right through the 10 minute break and into the third set, leading by as many as 13 points en route to a 25-14 victory. The Gaels put in a 5-0 spurt in the latter stages of the set, but it only prolonged the inevitable. A powerful kill by freshman Tami Alade, the Cardinal's 42nd of the match, ended what was a dominating performance for the home team.
Lutz led the way with 10 kills, Bugg tallied 27 assists, and freshman libero Halland McKenna poured in 18 digs.
The Cardinal will take its seven set winning-streak into its Pac-12 opener against Bay Area rival California when it begins conference play on Tuesday, Sept. 22. The match is set for 7 p.m. and can be seen on the Pac-12 Networks' Bay Area channel.
"I think we're headed in the right direction; I think our team can sense it," Dunning said. "Our confidence is really good every year. When you're on the rise, it feels good, and I think that's the way we feel right now. We have leadership and we have a lot of experience, and so when we come up against the good Pac-12 teams, I think we're going to respond."