Recap: No. 5 Stanford Women’s Volleyball dominates Duke
On Saturday, No. 5 Stanford women’s volleyball swept Duke at Maples Pavilion 3-0 (25-9, 25-13, 25-14). Stanford senior outside hitter Elia Rubin led the way for the Cardinal with 14 kills, eight digs, and three blocks while hitting .609. Stanford sophomore setter Taylor Yu 22 assists and 11 digs while hitting .667 on three attacks (two kills). Duke sophomore outside hitter Taylor Williams was the top performer for the Blue Devils with six kills and six digs. Stanford improves to 22-3 overall and 13-1 in the ACC while Duke falls to 5-20 overall and 2-12 in the ACC.
BOX SCORE: Duke at Stanford-Saturday, November 8th
“Yeah, I mean, I thought we, you know, we played pretty well, we held them to zero, you know, like, I think all in all, got to play a lot of people, and everyone that we played ended up playing pretty good volleyball,” Stanford head coach Kevin Hambly said after the match. “So it was nice to be able to do that.”
Stanford got off to a hot start in this one, leading 5-0 to start the match as Rubin was already up to three kills. Duke would get going a little bit as it was an 11-6 lead for Stanford after Williams got a kills for the Blue Devils. Stanford then would go on a 4-0 run to lead 15-6 as Logan Parks got a service ace during the run. After a Stanford service error made it 17-9, the Cardinal responded with an 8-0 run to win the first set 25-9. Rubin had two more kills in that run as she was up to six kills while hitting .545.
Stanford would open the second set on a 3-0 run as Rubin and Jordyn Harvey each had a kill while Duke also committed an error. After a service ace by Olivia Wayne, Duke trailed 5-4. After it was it 7-6, Stanford finally went on a run to gain some separation as they led 11-6 after going on a 4-0 run that included a kill by Harvey and Erika Sayer. Duke then won back-to-back points to make it 11-8 as Williams had another kill while Stanford had an attack error. Stanford then went on a 5-0 run to lead 16-8 as Rubin, Harvey, and Sayer each had a kill while Anna Pringle had a service ace.
From there, Stanford would take the set 25-13 as a service ace by Malyssa Cawa gave Stanford set point after which a kill by Sayer clinched the set. 2-0 Stanford was now in front as Rubin was up to nine kills while Harvey had seven kills. Both players were hitting fantastic as Rubin had a .600 hitting percentage while Harvey had a .583 hitting percentage.
“She was great and I mean yeah, she was incredibly efficient,” Hambly said of Rubin. “Well, .600. I didn’t realize she did that, but our middles hit great, well I mean, our outsides did great. I mean, it was pretty simple. I mean, I thought we did a good job offensively.”
“Yeah, I mean, I just, I’m trying to make good decisions and stay aggressive,” Rubin said of her performance. “We’ve been working really hard with our setters this week. Didn’t have my best week last week in terms of decision making, so been working hard with both Taylor and Logan. Just getting connection better, but also, on my end, staying more aggressive and making the right choices in the right times.”
In the 3rd set, Stanford jumped out to a 6-1 lead. Spencer Etzler had a service ace during the run while Lizzy Andrew had a kill. After a service ace by Rubin, Stanford led 10-3. After a kill by Duke’s Breonna Goss, it was a 16-9 lead for Stanford. Then, Stanford went on a 3-0 run to lead 19-9 as Rubin had two kills during the run while Yu had a kill of her own. From there, Stanford would win the third set 25-14 to get the 3-0 sweep.
“Yeah, I mean, we talked about like, hey the best way we can show them respect is to go out and compete and fight,” Hambly said of cruising to victory. “And if, you know, like even as this match is going on and it was pretty obvious that we were going to have a good shot to win the match, you know, like, we were in control. Now, like, let’s make sure we’re showing our respect and I think we did. That’s the best thing you can do is the best way you can show an opponent respect is go out and beat them up, you know, and play hard make sure you’re competing for every play.”
For Stanford, this was a win they expected to get, but it still feels good to take care of business so resoundingly. Duke never had a chance in this one as Stanford was so dominant. It would have been easy to have a letdown after their huge 3-0 sweep over No. 15 North Carolina the night before, but instead, Stanford stayed locked in and took care of business with ease.
“We’re fired up. We had a really good weekend,” Rubin said. “We came into this weekend, wanted to make a statement, and I think that’s exactly what we did. We knew that last night was gonna be an easy match to get excited for, because we know that Carolina brings really good fight and really good energy. And we wanted to continue that into tonight. We didn’t want to like, let up against Duke. We wanted to bring our best and I think that’s what we did. So we’re feeling really good.”
What also made this win good for Stanford was they got a chance to get players like Sidney Duncan and Zaria Queen a bit of action. You never know when you are going to need to go to your bench and so to get those players an opportunity to get out on the floor has to feel good.
“Yeah, I mean, it’s just nice that people are working hard and getting out there playing,” Hambly said of expanding the rotation. “It’s great, you know? It’s just nice to do that because there’s been times when we haven’t had that opportunity to play everybody, you know and we’ve been playing a lot of tough teams and this night, it was obviously we were playing pretty high level and our guys play high level in our gym and so it was nice to get kids like Sid out there and Zaria, who haven’t played very much and give them an opportunity.”
“Yeah, I mean, it’s awesome,” Rubin echoed. “It’s just, it’s so cool to be able to have everyone let their hard work pay off. It’s exactly what everyone deserves: A shot out there. So, I mean, it’s always our goal to be able to get a good enough lead to make sure that as many people can get experience as they want. But, it’s so fun playing out there, no matter who is on the court. It’s awesome.”
Up next for Stanford is a match at home against No. 3 Pittsburgh on Friday, November 14th. That will begin at 7:00 PM PT on ACCNX.
“It’s a really big one,” Hambly said of facing Pitt. “It’s one that’s, I mean, it’s we’re both tied for the top, so that’s one big and then SMU’s big. It’s a really big weekend. So a lot of eyes, a lot of people are going to be here, it’s going to be a big event. I think it’s gonna be exciting.”
“Yeah, we’re fired up,” Rubin said looking ahead to the following weekend. “I mean, we were obviously focused on this weekend first. But now that it’s over, that’s where our eyes are. We’ve got Pitt on Friday and we’re really looking forward to it. Happy that it’s at home and that we get to use that to our advantage. But we’re gonna get to work on Monday and hopefully we’ll be solid and carry this momentum into next weekend.”
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