Recap: No. 5 Stanford Women’s Volleyball sweeps No. 15 North Carolina
On Friday, No. 5 Stanford women’s volleyball swept No. 15 North Carolina 3-0 (25-22, 25-17, 25-16). Stanford junior outside hitter Jordyn Harvey led the way for the Cardinal with 14 kills and six digs while hitting .560. Stanford senior outside hitter Elia Rubin was number two in kills with 12 while freshman middle blocker Erika Sayer had nine kills while hitting .667. North Carolina redshirt junior Chelsea Thorpe was the top performer for the Tarheels with 14 kills. Stanford improves to 21-3 overall and 12-1 in the ACC while North Carolina falls to 17-5 overall and 10-3 in the ACC.
BOX SCORE: North Carolina at Stanford-Friday, November 7th
“I thought it was an important win,” Stanford head coach Kevin Hambly said after the match. “It was a good win. I thought we executed at a really high level. We had a couple of little shaky moments, but those were pretty few and far between. And to hold that team to .114 as a team and to hold Safi Hampton under negative .125, I think was huge. And so like I thought we executed, like we haven’t done all the time. I thought it was a good match for us. Especially being at home was nice.”
“It’s really good considering there’s been a few matches in the past where we felt like we haven’t necessarily performed to the level that we think we have and you know, to be able to come out and beat a team that has, you know, a lot of energy, a lot of power, and they’re really deep,” Harvey added. “I think they have a lot of really good attackers and seeing how they competed against Louisville and how they competed against Pitt, to be able to take a team like that really shows that we’re still on the right path, still on the track we want to take to, you know, continue for the tournament. I think if we continue on this route, I think we are looking really good here at Stanford.”
The opening set was tight as it was tied 5-5 and later 10-10. North Carolina won the first two points before Stanford won four straight to go up 4-2. So it was very back and forth. North Carolina would go on a 3-0 run to lead 15-13 after a kill by Laynie Smith before Stanford won back-to-back points to make it 15-15 as Rubin got a kill followed by a North Carolina attack error.
North Carolina would go up 21-17 as they were on a 3-0 run only for Stanford to respond with a 4-0 run to tie it up 21-21 as Sayer and Harvey each had a kill during the run. Stanford then had a service error, giving North Carolina an opening. Stanford would quickly respond as they would go on to end the set on a 4-0 run to take the set 25-22 as freshman libero Spencer Etzler got a service ace to clinch the set 25-22. 1-0 lead for the Cardinal.
“Yeah, I mean, it was tight and she hit a good serve,” Hambly said of Etzler. “I mean, I think Spencer more importantly dug a lot of balls and played great defense and set really well. You know, she just, she’s a really good hold up there. She passed nails. I mean, her and Elia were both over 90%, like perfect. Which is an incredible moment.”
“I think throughout the entire set, we never really got in a moment where we felt like were nervous,” Harvey said of the first set. “I think just we knew when we went to time out like hey, we think they have a little bit more control than we do. Like how do we find a way to get this match back into our control? Continue to stay in rallies and do the things that we need to do and I think those last few points, we really just dialed in, executed really well, defended, you know, just make sure we were in the right spots to not, you know, overdoing things I think honestly helped in the end because we were able to come back.”
Stanford jumped out to a 3-0 lead in the second set as Rubin had a pair of kills. They would later go on a 4-0 run to lead 7-2 as Harvey had a pair of kills during the run while Rubin and Lizzy Andrew also added a kill to their total. North Carolina would soon go on a 5-0 run to tie it up 8-8. Lauren Schutter and Hailey Pearce each had a kill during that run for the Tarheels. After a 3-0 run, the Tarheels would lead 12-10. At this point, it looked like North Carolina might even up the match.
Stanford however had other plans as they won four out of the next five points to lead 14-13 after a kill by Harvey. Thorpe then got a kill to tied it up 14-14 only for Stanford to then rip off a 7-0 run to lead 21-14 as Sayer, Harvey, and Rubin each had kills during the run. From there, Stanford took the set 25-17, closing it out on a 3-0 run. 2-0 lead for the Cardinal.
In the third set, Stanford led 9-5 after a kill by Sayer capped off a 3-0 run. After a 4-0 run that included a kill by Sayer and a service ace by Anna Pringle, Stanford led 14-7. Stanford would continue to cruise the rest of the way to win the set 25-16 as back-to-back attack errors by North Carolina ended the match. 3-0 Stanford got the sweep to kick off a five match homestand.
“It feels nice to be in our own beds. It’s nice to not travel to the East Coast,” Hambly said of being at home. “It’d be nice to try and get some comfort, try to like settle in, keep our rhythm going. I thought it was, I think it’s really important. I think it’s really important and we take care of business at home, because we have some huge matches, like we have three ranked opponents coming up here.”
For Stanford, this is a strong win. North Carolina is ranked and so to get a sweep over them really sends a message. I was thinking this match might go five sets after North Carolina took No. 4 Pitt to five sets. Instead, it was pretty smooth sailing for the Cardinal. Jordyn Harvery, Erika Sayer, and Elia Rubin in particular were fantastic.
“Yeah, I mean, Jordyn, Erika, like Jordyn had zero errors and hit .560 or whatever. Like, that’s pretty incredible,” Hambly said. “And I thought both Lizzy and Erika did a nice job in the middle attacking and blocking them. They both put up some great blocks. So I thought all in all, everyone all around did a great job.”
“Honestly, I think we did really well passing,” Harvey said. “I think we were in system a lot and just having a really good control of the game and you know, when everyone’s in system, it’s hard to read on our side and I think we’re really strong offensively. So, luckily enough, we were able to pass, you know, setters did really well tonight on getting the ball to the pins, especially to me, and you know, luckily I was able to execute for them.”
One thing to note from the match is the setter rotation. After Logan Parks got the start at setter, Taylor Yu was the one who finished the match. It’ll be interesting to see how Hambly manages that rotation in the coming matches.
“Yeah, I mean, things got a little dicey there for a little bit, so we put Taylor in, she did a nice job,” Hambly said of the setter rotation. “She kind of settled some things down. So I don’t know if that’s how it’s gonna be every single match, but in this one, that’s how it ended up being.”
Up next for Stanford is a home match against Duke on Saturday. That will begin at 7:00 PM PT on ACCNX.
“Duke, you know, Duke’s a team that’s kind of up and down a little bit. I think, like, emotionally, we’re gonna have to come and bring it and make sure that we keep them down, you know?” Hambly said of the Blue Devils. “I think they have some really talented players and they can score points. So we’ll have to do a nice job of playing great defense like we did tonight.”
“I mean, home stretch is always good,” Harvey said. “Like, there’s definitely home court advantage being able to, you know, sleep in your own bed, be in front of your own crowd, being on your court. I think after the last few weeks, it was definitely a learning lesson for us to be able to go out and travel because, you know, who knows how this tournament is going to look? We have to be ready for everything.
“However, it’s always good to get a good final moment at home, get our own commands, you know, and I think Maples showed out tonight as usual and we were able to perform. So it feels great to be back. Glad to be home for a while because a lot of midterms.”
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