Five questions going into the 2025 Stanford Women’s Volleyball season
With Stanford women’s volleyball starting their season this week, it is time for me to look at five questions heading into the season for the Cardinal. The Cardinal are ranked No. 6 in the nation in the AVCA Coaches Poll and are bringing in a strong recruiting class, looking to build on a season in which they reached the Elite Eight. Ok, let’s get after it!
READ: Breaking down the 2025 Stanford Women’s Volleyball schedule
READ: Breaking down Stanford Women’s Volleyball’s incoming 2025 freshman class
#1. How will Taylor Yu and Spencer Etzler do at setter and libero? With star setter Kami Miner and star libero Elena Oglivie both graduating, sophomore Taylor Yu (setter) and freshman Spencer Etzler (libero) are going to have some big shoes to fill. Head coach Kevin Hambly is confident in their abilities to step up and do their job. If they’re both able to deliver the goods, that more than anything could be the key to Stanford getting back to the Final Four.
#2. How will the middle blocker position come together? With Sami Francis graduating, Stanford once again is going to need others to step up at the middle blocker position. From what Hambly told me, it sounds like freshman Reese Dunkle will miss some time, so it’ll be on sophomore Lizzy Andrew, freshman Erika Sayer, and sophomore Sidney Duncan to man the middle blocker spot. If Stanford can get that unit to gel well together, that would be huge.
#3. Can Julia Blyashov come alive? Julia Blyashov is a redshirt sophomore, who came to Stanford as a highly ranked recruit. So far, she hasn’t done much on the court, appearing in only six matches her freshman year and then redshirting her sophomore year as she was dealing with an injury. If Stanford wants to take that next jump and get back to the Final Four, it would be huge if Blyashov could be productive and play like the player so many of us thought she’d be when she came to Stanford.
#4. How will Elia Rubin handle the spotlight? As a senior, outside hitter Elia Rubin is going to have to be the star player of this year’s team. From what I’ve seen of her, I have no doubt that she can step into that light. She had a strong junior year and plays with a lot of fight on the court. Every season she gets better and finds ways to improve her game. Honestly, it should be a lot of fun to see how she does and how the team does with her as the go-to option.
#5. Can Stanford finally get back to the Final Four? The last three seasons, Stanford has hit a wall in the Elite Eight. While there is no shame in losing in the Elite Eight, the goal if you are Stanford is to win national championships and be one of the last four teams standing. When you keep hitting a wall at a certain point of the NCAA tournament, you have to ask yourself why. You can have excuses for why it didn’t come together in a particular season, but when it starts becoming a pattern, you have to get to the bottom of it. Hopefully for Stanford, this will be the season they finally crack the code.
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