Recap: No. 6 Stanford Women's Volleyball drops five setter to No. 2 Texas
On Sunday, No. 6 Stanford women’s volleyball fell to No. 2 Texas on the road in five sets (15-25, 23-25, 25-21, 25-13, 16-18). Texas junior outside hitter Torrey Stafford led the way for the Longhorns with 18 kills and 10 digs while freshman outside hitter Cari Spears had 14 kills and five digs. Stanford senior outside hitter Elia Rubin was the top performer for the Cardinal with 18 kills and nine digs while redshirt sophomore outside hitter Ipar Kurt had 15 kills. Texas improves to 4-0 overall while Stanford falls to 3-2.
BOX SCORE: Stanford at Texas-Sunday, September 7th
To Stanford’s credit, they didn’t let the fact that they got down 0-2 prevent them from making this a match. Texas came out guns blazing, having a 4-0 run and a 5-0 run in the opening set as they hit .367, taking the first set 25-15. Stanford hit .147 in the opening set, struggling to find a groove.
In the second set, Stanford raised their game, hitting .317 while getting 19 kills. The problem? Texas raised their level of play as well, hitting .444. After it was tied 20-20, Erika Sayer got a kill for Stanford to go up 21-20 only for Texas to win two points in a row off an attack error by Stanford and a service ace by Emma Halter. That made it 22-21. It would later be tied 23-23 after a kill by Jordyn Harvey tied it up again for Stanford. Texas then got back-to-back kills from Torrey Stafford and Abby Vander Wal to take the set 25-23.
Stanford would hit .312 in the third set, accumulating 14 kills. Texas in contrast hit .259, so Stanford played the cleaner set. It showed as the Cardinal edged the Longhorns 25-21. Stanford led 5-2 early on in the set after a kill by Lizzy Andrew capped off a 3-0 run and from then on didn’t look back as they never gave up the lead the rest of the set. Stanford had a pair of service aces from Rubin while Kurt had one as well. A kill by Rubin off an assist from Logan Parks clinched the set for the Cardinal.
In the fourth set, Stanford cruised to a 25-13 victory after trailing early and having it be tied 9-9. After it was tied up at nine apiece, Stanford went on a ridiculous 9-0 run to make it 18-9. Sayer and Kurt had a pair of kills during that run. A kill by Rubin off an assist from Parks made it a 25-13 victory for Stanford as it was tied up 2-2.
The fifth set was looking strong for Stanford as they led 10-5 as Harvey had back-to-back service aces. Texas then went on a 6-0 run to lead 11-10. After a kill by Nya Bunton for the Longhorns, it was all knotted up 15-15. A kill by Harvey gave Stanford a 16-15 lead only for the Longhorns to close out the set and match on a 3-0 run as Spears got a kill followed by back-to-back attack errors by Stanford. 18-16 Texas took the fifth set to clinch the match.
For Stanford, while it’s a bummer they came up short, the fact that they played such a close match on the road against the number two team in the nation has to give them a lot of confidence. Going into the season, head coach Kevin Hambly wasn’t sure how quickly his team would gel and I would say this match was a real step forward in terms of them gelling as a team. When you play against an elite peer on the road, you’re not going to win them all. What you want to see at a minimum though is that you competed and proved that should you meet again, things might go in your favor. Stanford accomplished that.
Up next for Stanford is a road match at No. 16 Missouri on Tuesday, September 9th. That will begin at 6:30 PM PT on ESPN.
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