Recap: (2) Stanford Women’s Volleyball fall to (3) Wisconsin in the Sweet Sixteen
On Friday, (2) Stanford women’s volleyball fell to (3) Wisconsin in the Sweet Sixteen of the NCAA tournament in Austin, Texas. Wisconsin senior outside hitter Mimi Colyer led the way for the Badgers with 27 kills and 10 digs while hitting .373 while senior middle blocker Carter Booth had 14 kills while hitting .700. Wisconsin sophomore setter Charlie Fuerbringer dished out 61 assists. Stanford senior outside hitter Elia Rubin led the way for the Cardinal with 15 kills while hitting .257 while freshman setter Logan Parks had 51 assists in her return from injury.
BOX SCORE: Stanford vs. Wisconsin-Friday, December 12th
Wisconsin led 6-2 early on in the first set as Colyer had a pair of kills already. Stanford would get within one point at 8-7 after a kill by Lizzy Andrew, 9-8 after a service error by Wisconsin, and 10-9 after a kill by Julia Blyashov. Wisconsin then went on a 5-0 run to lead 15-9 as Colyer had a pair of kills during the run while Fuerbringer and Booth had kills as well.
From there, Wisconsin took the opening set 25-17. Colyer had nine kills for the Badgers. She was off to a hot start. Stanford had to contain her. Andrew led Stanford with three kills while hitting 1.000. This was not the start Stanford was looking for.
Stanford came out with good energy in the second set. After Wisconsin led 7-6, Stanford went on a 3-0 run to lead 9-7 as Andrew had a kill, Wisconsin had an error, and Rubin had a service ace. Stanford would later lead 15-13 after another kill by Rubin and a service ace by Harvey as there was a media timeout. Harvey would then have a service error to make it 15-14 before Stanford went on 3-0 run to make it 18-14 as Rubin and Blyashov each had a kill while Wisconsin had an error.
Another 3-0 run made it a 22-16 lead for Stanford as Blyashov had a pair of kills during the run. From there, Stanford would tie it up 1-1, taking the second set 25-21. Blyashov (7 kills), Rubin (6 kills), and Andrew (6 kills) led the Cardinal. It was a huge bounce back to even it up.
Wisconsin led 7-4 early on in the third set before Stanford went on a 3-0 run to tie it up 7-7 as Andrew had back-to-back kills during the run. After Stanford went up 13-11, Wisconsin would tie it up 13-13 after Fuerbringer and Colyer each had kills to even it up. It continued to be a back and forth affair tied 18-18, 19-19, 20-20, and 21-21. Wisconsin would then win their third straight point to make it 23-21 as Kristen Simon had a kill and service ace while Colyer added another kill. From there, Wisconsin would hang on to take the set 25-23 as a kill by Grace Egan clinched the set. It was now a 2-1 lead for the Badgers.
The 4th set was similar to the 3rd set. After getting down 12-9, Stanford went on a 4-0 run to lead 13-12. After getting down 19-17, a kill by Blyashov and a service ace by Parks tied it up 19-19. Wisconsin then went on a 3-0 run to lead 22-19 as Colyer had two kills during the run while Parks had a service error. From there, Wisconsin would go on to win the set 25-22 as back-to-back kills from Colyer and Egan sealed the deal. 3-1 Wisconsin won the match, advancing to the Elite Eight (regional final).
For Stanford, this is a disappointing end to the season. They were hoping to get back to another Elite Eight and beat a Texas team that I think they felt confident in beating. At the same time, they came into the season as the youngest power four conference team in the nation. They’re returning a lot of pieces next year with only Elia Rubin being the key rotation player that won’t be back. This should be a good learning experience for them and add fuel to the fire to make a deep run next year.
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