Recap: No. 5 Stanford Women’s Volleyball gets Big Spike sweep at Cal
On Sunday, No. 5 Stanford women’s volleyball got a 3-0 (25-18, 25-15, 25-17) sweep over Cal in Berkeley, completing a season sweep over the Golden Bears. Stanford senior outside hitter Elia Rubin led the way for the Cardinal with eight kills and six digs while hitting .538 while redshirt sophomore outside hitter Julia Blyashov had seven kills and four digs. Cal freshman outside hitter Arissa Carbonara was the top performer for the Golden Bears with 11 kills while hitting .308. Stanford improves to 25-4 overall and 16-2 in the ACC while Cal falls to 7-21 overall and 4-14 in the ACC.
BOX SCORE: Stanford at Cal-Sunday, November 23rd
“Well, I think it’s a hard match to play when you just won,” Stanford head coach Kevin Hambly said after the match. “You know, like won 3-0 at home and then to come here. And I thought they played a whole lot better than they did the other night, Cal. And we, I thought we even played very very steady in the first set and then we just kind of continued that the way on. I don’t know if it was our best match, but I thought for the whole match we played very very steady and very consistent, especially for our having our setter, you know, like being down to our third setter, you know? So I thought Tush did a good job and kind of kept us steady, which is hard to do in a, on a road match, especially when human nature would tell you to kind of relax a little bit.”
Early on in the first set it was tied up 7-7 as Sophie Scott (Cal) and Julia Blyashov (Stanford) traded kills. After a kill by Domnique Phills gave Cal another brief lead, Stanford went on a 4-0 run to lead 11-8 as Logan Tusher, who once again had to start at setter with Logan Parks and Taylor Yu out, got a couple of service aces.
Cal would continue to battle hard as another kill by Phills got Cal within a couple of points at 14-12. Stanford then went on a 3-0 run to lead 17-12 as Jordyn Harvey got a kill and service ace during the run. After a kill by Lizzy Andrew, Stanford led 20-15. From there, Stanford would cruise to take the opening set 25-18 as a kill by Harvey clinched the set. Harvey led the way for Stanford with five kills while hitting .714. Stanford was out-hitting Cal .458 to .231. Strong start for the Cardinal as they were up 1-0.
The second set was tied 4-4 after Rubin and Carbonara traded kills. Later on in the set, Stanford led 11-8 after back-to-back errors from the Bears. After a service ace from Blyashov, Stanford led 13-10 only for a kill by Mikayla Hayden made it 13-11. It would continue to be back and forth for a few points as Stanford led 15-13 after a kill by Carbonara and an error from Stanford.
Then, Stanford went on a 5-0 run to make it 20-13 as Harvey got a kill and service ace during the run. Stanford would close the set out on a 3-0 run to win 25-15 as Cal committed three straight errors. Rubin had come alive for Stanford with seven kills while hitting .545. Harvey had six kills while hitting .500. Carbonara was the top performer for Cal with six kills while hitting .267. Stanford was out-hitting Cal .269 to .074. 2-0 lead for the Cardinal.
“I think they just made really good choices and Tush did a good job of putting them in good situations,” Hambly said of Harvey and Rubin. “They understand how to score, you know, so I’m not that surprised that’s what they hit, but I just thought we played like, Stanford volleyball, which is cool to see.”
“Yeah, I mean, we’re just trying to work on our offense as much as possible,” Rubin said. “Like, it’s the first time we’re really getting to work with Tush, like really for a longer period of time. So that’s all we’re focused on is just being able to give her feedback as fast as possible so we can get our connection, but yeah, we’re doing well and we’re happy the way it’s all working out.”
The third set was similar to the first two sets. Tight early on only for the Cardinal to pull away. After Ashley Li and Julia Blyashov traded kills, it was tied up 9-9. After a kill by Phills, Stanford led 16-14. Stanford then went on a 6-0 run to lead 22-14 as Koko Kirsch had a pair of service aces during the run while Blyashov had a pair of kills.
At this point, Stanford was able to bring in some reserves and finish strong. Sidney Duncan had a nice kill to make it 23-16 off an assist from Tusher and then to clinch the match, Tusher went right back to Duncan again for the kill. 25-17 Stanford took the third set and completed the 3-0 sweep over the Bears.
“We going into it, too that they play better at home for sure,” Rubin said of Cal. “And they’re a different team. So we knew we had to come in and we had to not hold onto Wednesday. We played great on Wednesday, but new match today: zero-zero. You know, so just thinking about that when we came into it. And so we were really happy that we were able to take care of business and beat them convincingly.”
For Stanford, this was a nice win. They got the season sweep over Cal and did it during Big Game week. Beat Cal is the theme of the week and that’s exactly what they did. Even though they came in as heavy favorites, it still means a lot to the program to secure a Big Spike victory.
“It means a lot,” Hambly said of sweeping Cal. “We just said hey, we got our axe, you know? Like, we got our deal. Like playing Cal is a big deal. It’s obviously a big deal. The crowd was big tonight. Our crowd was great the other night. Like, the Cal match is a big match and you know, we’ve been linked together with all these changes that have happened over time, you know? Like, we’re gonna be together. So, I love the coaching staff. I love this program, but when we play them, we gotta beat them up and we gotta make sure we beat them. You know, and that’s important.”
“It’s awesome,” Rubin added. “You know, we, it’s obviously, you know, there’s a little bit more oomph behind it. So it feels great. We had a big win in football last night, so that kind of fired us up for the game today, but even on Wednesday, like we knew that we were going to have to be able to stay focused for a long stretch of time because playing a team back-to-back isn’t always easy. So and they’re a good team. They put pressure on us, but it’s solid and it feels great.”
As for the Big Game on Saturday, the volleyball team was able attend. They had a lot of fun watching the football team reclaim the Axe. The Big Game win over Cal was not just important for football, but for the entire athletic department.
“I mean, I’m really happy for them,” Hambly said of the football team’s victory. “Andrew and the crew and the coaches are working so hard to be a good program and like get the net recognition they need and to bring that kind of, we need that kind of energy around our whole athletic department and so for them to work that hard, have the players around, and to get that win, you can see it on them, how elated they were and we all feel that.”
“We were,” Rubin said when asked if they made it to the game. “We were and we stormed the field last night. So it was really fun. It was the first time I’d ever go to Big Game, so I had a great time. Fun to support our guys and watch them take the win.”
To touch more on the match itself, it really is impressive what Logan Tusher is doing at setter. To come in as the third string player at that spot and still put up 24 assists is pretty remarkable. It takes time for setters and hitters to get a good feel for each other and so for her to step in like this and keep the offense flowing speaks to how good of a player she is and her preparation.
“Well, I mean, she works hard in practice and she’s a good volleyball player and there’s a reason we want her on the team,” Hambly said of Tusher. “And she’s good volleyball player and when she got the opportunity, it’s her time. Which is very cool.”
“She’s awesome,” Rubin said of Tusher. “Yeah, she’s stepped in, which is not easy to do, you know? But she’s ready for that. She’s such a baller and she’s totally built for the big moment. So she’s doing awesome, she’s a steady presence, and she’s exactly what we need right now. It’s awesome.”
Probably the biggest stat of the match was Stanford having 14 service aces to Cal’s one service ace. Stanford’s service pressure was so much better in this match. That more than anything made the biggest difference in the result.
“Well, I think in both service and blocking, I think we scored over 24 points,” Hambly said. “Like almost a whole set of aces and blocks, which is a lot. And so I think from that, from a defensive standpoint, we’ve always had good service pressure. We certainly got to them tonight a little bit, which is, you know, we hope we carry that through in the next weekend and the tournament.”
As for Cal, obviously a disappointing result to get swept by Stanford. They came in hoping to make a match of it and at least take a set off Stanford. Instead, they went down pretty easily as it wasn’t much of a match. That said, with it being the second year of the Jen Malcom era, there is hope that as time goes on, she’ll be able to get the program back on track. It would honestly be fun for Stanford if their rival across the bay could get back to being an NCAA tournament team. It’ll be interesting to see if they can take a significant step towards that next season after signing their 2026 class.
Up next for Stanford is a home match against Georgia Tech on Wednesday, November 26th at 3:00 PM PT on ACCNX.
“Yeah, we’ve got a big one on Wednesday,” Rubin said looking ahead to the Yellow Jackets. “We know that. We gotta stay focused, but we’re starting to treat every single game like it’s a tournament game because at this point, you know, that’s where our minds are. We’re focused on just seeing one game at a time and like keeping our eyes laser focused, eyes on the prize.”
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