| LINESCORE | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | F | |
| Oregon State (21-13) | 20 | 14 | 25 | 15 | 1 |
| Stanford (32-1) | 25 | 25 | 22 | 25 | 3 |
| STAT COMPARISON | ||
|---|---|---|
| OSU | STAN | |
| Kills | 54 | 67 |
| Attack pct. | .193 | .348 |
| Assists | 52 | 62 |
| Aces | 4 | 2 |
| Digs | 73 | 76 |
| Blocks | 5.0 | 7.0 |
Box Score
AMES, Iowa – The No. 1 Stanford women’s volleyball team advanced to the Ames Regional final with a 3-1 win over Oregon State, Friday, at Hilton Coliseum in Ames, Iowa. The Cardinal (32-1) will face No. 8 seed Florida on Saturday, Dec. 13 at 6 p.m. PT on ESPNU with a trip to the NCAA semifinals on the line.
Stanford made quick work of the Beavers in the first two sets, 25-20, 25-14, before Oregon State (21-13) stormed back to avoid the sweep with a 25-22 win in the third. The Beavers momentum was short lived, as Stanford's balanced attack was too much for OSU in the fourth set.
It was a defensive battle as the teams combined for 149 digs and 12 blocks. Stanford posted a .348 attack percentage and held Oregon State to a .193 clip. The Cardinal, which defeated its fellow Pac-12 foe for the third time this season, improves to 61-0 all-time against the Beavers in a series that dates back to 1981
"It’s great because it [Oregon's State's defense] really tested our offense and it just forced us to execute," said junior Inky Ajanaku after the match. "I’m glad that we picked it up halfway through the game and decided that we were going to get the ball down.”
Ajanaku had 16 kills on 33 attempts (.394) to lead the Cardinal offense, which featured four players with double-digit kills. Junior Brittany Howard posted 14 kills, junior Jordan Burgess put down 12 and Merete Lutz chipped in with 11. All four players hit over .300, including a .417 mark from Lutz.
Burgess (18th) and Howard (3rd) both notched double-doubles adding 15 and 12 digs, respectively. Senior libero Kyle Gilbert, who has recorded double-digit digs in all 33 matches this season, had her third 30-plus dig performance of the year finishing with 31.
Junior setter Madi Bugg was three assists shy of her season high with 56 to go with seven digs, five kills and two blocks. Senior opposite Morgan Boukather added nine kills, 10 digs and three blocks.
"Defense is energizing. Those are fun games to play," added Bugg.
Oregon State was led by Pac-12 Freshman of the Year Mary-Kate Marshall’s 17 kills and 10 digs. Redshirt sophomore Katelyn Driscoll added 14 kills, while junior libero Darby Reeder tallied 22 digs.
"I think we focus on playing Stanford volleyball," said Ajanaku when asked about preparing for the team's next opponent. "We don’t have to do anything out of the ordinary, but we are all going to have our hearts in the game and we are all going to want to be great. We all just have to focus on being good.”
Head coach John Dunning picked up his 400th win at Stanford in his 14th year at the helm of the Cardinal. The four-time national champion owns an 837-169 career record over 30 seasons between Pacific and Stanford.
"They've been motivated the whole year to learn how to play together better, to learn that the confidence you have in this situation is how many good repetitions that you have behind you, and they worked really hard to get to that point where they believe in themselves and they’re going to go tomorrow and do what they just said," added Dunning.
