Courtesy: Stanford Athletics
STANFORD, Calif. – Stanford shrugged off severly inclement weather to start its 2016 campaign with wins over Sacramento State and San Jose State on Saturday at the Stanford Sand Volleyball Stadium in the Stanford Invitational.
“I'm proud of all of our players today,” said first-year head coach Denise Corlett. “It's a great way to start the season. Obviously, we want to contend for a national championship and these are the ones we have to win, whether or not it's in the rain or the wind.”
The Cardinal got things started with a 5-0 sweep of Sacramento State, which included just two matches that went to a third set.
Stanford then found itself in a 2-1 hole against San Jose State, but a win by Merete Lutz and Halland McKenna at the number two spot kept hopes alive at 2-2.
In dramatic fashion, Ivana Vanjak and Payton Chang erased a 1-0 deficit to win the final game of the day at the number one position.
“We definitely felt a sense of urgency,” said Vanjak. “I started a little slow in the first set, but Payton helped me out a lot and got me back in the groove of the game. We knew we had to come back and fight."
“We knew we had to win the third set just because we were down 2-1 going into our game, so we had to push ourselves and push for our whole team,” added Chang. “We've been practicing for a long time now and we know that the other teams have to deal with the conditions as well.”
With seven of 12 active players on the roster freshman, the Cardinal knew it would need contributions from its rookies, which it did.
“All of our freshmen did very well in their first beach match,” said Corlett. “I think they learned a lot. The whole group came together as a team and you could see the excitement out there.”
“We also have to give credit to Karissa Cook and Sara Dukes-Johnson,” she added. “They're doing a great job as the assistants in helping us be a strong beach team.”
The Cardinal returns to action tomorrow with matches against Pacific at 11:30 a.m. (PT) and Saint Mary's at 2:30 p.m. All six matches are expected to be played, rain or shine. Live results will be available at GoStanford.com.
Full Results:
Saint Mary's 3, Sacramento State 2
Order of finish: 5, 4, 3, 2, 1
1. Dodd/Knudsen (SMC) def. Cannon/Lovett (Sac St.) 21-14, 18-21, 15-11
2. Hernandez/Rund (SMC) def. Boyle/Stanley (Sac St.) 21-10, 22-24, 15-11
3. Kurtz/Skalbeck (Sac St.) def. Wilkerson/Kudziela (SMC) 21-18, 21-16
4. Bible/Calvin (SMC) def. Aikels/Meadows (Sac St.) 21-12, 21-18
5. Brown/Murdock (Sac St.) def. Liserra/O'Sullivan (SMC) 21-18, 21-14
Ex. Wright/Gathright (Sac St.) def. Nocetti/Takeda(Sac St.) 21-16, 19-21, 15-9
San Francisco 3, Pacific 2
Order of finish: 5, 4, 3, 2, 1
1. Elman/Shelton (UOP) def. Okaro/Staengle (USF) 12-21, 21-16, 15-8
2. Pilepic/Vlasic (USF) def. Whitson/Wilk (UOP) 21-19, 21-15
3. Reed/Sabahi (USF) def. Gotterba/Hess (UOP) 21-19, 21-17
4. Gaffney/McKibben (USF) def. LaBass/Feiner (UOP) 21-12, 21-19
5. Diederich/Holt (UOP) def. Murtagh/Miller (USF) 21-18, 21-15
Ex. Gutierrez/Keenan (USF) def. Cline/Fledsher (UOP) 21-11, 12-21, 15-10
Stanford 5, Sacramento State 0
Order of finish: 4, 5, 3, 2, 1
1. Vanjak/Chang (Stan) def. Cannon/Lovett (Sac St.) 21-12, 21-15
2. Lutz/McKenna (Stan) def. Stanley/Boyle (Sac St.) 21-12, 21-15
3. Raquel/Froistad (Stan) def. Skalbeck/Kurtz (Sac St.) 21-18, 21-16
4. Brown/Robinson (Stan) def. Aikels/Murdock (Sac St.) 18-21, 21-15, 15-10
5. Bowen/DiSanto (Stan) def. Brown/Wright (Sac St.) 21-16, 18-21, 16-14
Ex. Alade/Robinson (Stan) def. Takeda/Nocetti (Sac St.) 21-16, 21-18
Pacific 4, San Jose State 1
Order of finish: 5, 4, 3, 2, 1
1. Shelton/Elman (UOP) vs. Tresnakova/Menhart (SJSU) 21-15, 18-21, 18-16
2. Whitson/Wilk (UOP) def. Roy/Scholl (SJSU) 21-14, 22-20
3. Meehan/Hirai (SJSU) def. Hess/Gotterba (UOP) 18-21, 12-16, 15-11
4. Diedrich/Holt (UOP) def. Golbeck/Sam (SJSU) 18-21, 21-16, 15-12
5. Feiner/LaBass (UOP) def. Andrade/Gama (SJSU) 21-13, 21-19
Ex. Mantellato/Robinson (SJSU) def. Cline/Feldsher (UOP) 21-13, 21-16
San Francisco 3, Saint Mary's 2
Order of finish: 4, 5, 3, 1, 2
1. Staengle/Okaro (USF) def. Dodd/Knudsen (SMC) 21-18, 21-19
2. Rund/Hernandez (SMC) def. Pilepic/Valsic (USF) 10-21, 21-10, 15-10
3. Reed/Sabahi (USF) def. Wilkerson/Kudziela (SMC) 20-22, 21-11, 15-13
4. Gaffney/McKibbon (USF) def. Bible/Calvin (SMC) 21-10, 21-11
5. O'Sullivan/Liserra (SMC) def. Murtagh/Miller (USF) 24-26, 23-21, 15-13
Stanford 3, San Jose State 2
Order of finish: 5, 4, 3, 2, 1
1. Vanjak/Chang (Stan) vs. Tresnakova/Menhart (SJSU) 17-21, 21-18, 15-8
2. Lutz/McKenna (Stan) vs. Roy/Scholl (SJSU) 21-12, 21-12
3. Meehan/Hirai (SJSU) Raquel/Hodson (Stan) 21-17, 21-19
4. Brown/Robinson (Stan) def. Gama/Andrade (SJSU) 15-21, 21-13, 15-7
5. Sam/Golbeck (SJSU) def. Bowen/DiSanto (Stan) 21-17, 24-22
Ex. Froistad/Alade (Stan) def. Mantellado/Robinson (SJSU) 21-9, 21-14