Stanford head coach Kevin Hambly enters 2025 season with curiosity
Entering the 2025 season, Stanford women’s volleyball is ranked No. 6 in the AVCA Coaches Poll. They’re expected to be in the mix for a national championship, seeking to get back to the Final Four for the first time since 2019, the last time they won the national championship. If Stanford is going to get back to the Final Four and make a serious push for a national title, it’s going to have to come with new players stepping up. Both freshmen and returning.
Head coach Kevin Hambly is curious to see how the team comes together and is looking forward to the challenge of figuring out how to make all the pieces fit. It’s going to be a different looking team than last year and that’s something he feels the fans should enjoy watching.
“I mean, I think we have a lot of talent. We have a lot of arms. Guys that can just absolutely bang it. And we have a group that I think could end up being a very good team,” Hambly said. “How fast we get there, it will be interesting, we’ll have to see. We got a lot of development. I mean, we have three upperclassmen, that’s it. So, and we lost a lot and we are replacing them with freshmen, you know, so that’s different. So we’ll see.
“I think there’s a lot of unknowns. There’s a lot of, I’m very curious to see how we respond when we actually compete because it’s a really fun team to coach right now. Young teams are really fun. Especially if they’re eager to learn, which these guys are very eager to learn and they really want to be good. Like there’s no doubt about it. All of them. But the young teams aren’t as fun to compete with because they got to learn how to fight. They got to learn how to win and all that stuff. So, I’m curious, excited, interested, like, ready to problem solve all of it. Should be a fun year. It should be an interesting year for the fans to watch.”
With Sami Francis moving on, middle blocker is a key position to watch with this year’s team. With an injury to one of the incoming freshmen Reese Dunkle, sophomore Lizzy Andrew is going to have to really take on more of a load until Dunkle is able to go.
“I think we have three legit lefts, you know, outsides. I think we have three or four DSs that can help us,” Hambly explained. “I think we, unfortunately, we only have like two middles that’ll play for us, which is a bummer. Because I think we might have three, had an injury with Reese [Dunkle].
“And then setters, I think, all of our setters can play, you know that’s pretty interesting having a kid like Logan Parks who could hit and set, so we might see if we’re gonna use that. Use her in different ways than we’ve used anyone before. Than anyone’s really played before in a long time, to be honest. Like, maybe have her hit and set. We’ll see how that goes.”
While there’s a lot of unknowns, some spots do appear to be pretty set. Sophomore Taylor Yu looks like she’s going to get the bulk of rotations at setter and then freshman Spencer Etzler has separated herself at the libero spot. Both have big shoes to fill given the impact setter Kami Miner and libero Elena Oglivie had on the program.
“Yeah, it looks like she’ll set,” Hambly said of Yu. “I think she’s our best pure setter right now. I think Logan Parks may do both. So she might set and hit. So we’ll see. We’ll try that out and see how that goes.
“Yeah, I think Spencer [Etzler] our freshman’s kind of, she’s separated herself a little bit here, from a passing and defensive standpoint. But Koko’s been great. You know, I think Pringle will play a role for us in a defensive role, but you know, Mal [Malyssa Cawa] is working at it.
“But, I think so far, Spencer’s kind of proven it, she’s probably our libero as a freshman. So, it’d be a lot for her as a freshman, but there was a lot for Morgan Hentz, there was a lot for Elena Oglivie, you know, so like, now it would be a lot for Spencer. But they’re all very talented and she’s talented enough to be able to handle it. And competitive enough and serious enough, so it’d be fun.”
While a lot of players are going to have to step into new roles, having a senior in outside hitter Elia Rubin helps to give the team a much-needed stability. Hambly is grateful to have her on the team not only for her skill, but also for her leadership.
“Yeah, I think the thing that’s interesting is being the one role, being one of three seniors, like upperclassmen and for the first time, she’s not, she was used to being the youngest player on the floor, you know, and now she’s one of the older players on the floor. She’s the oldest player on the floor by far,” Hambly said of Rubin. “I think her figuring out how her new role is going to work and how to manage all of that and how to lead the group, that is this young, you know, and how they’re going to respond to her, it’s going to be great.
“I think from a volleyball standpoint, she’s working hard on her game, she’s working as hard as she ever has, I think actually she’s passing better right now than she ever has, which is saying a lot because she’s a great passer. She knows how to score, she knows how to play, and she was the first team honor last year and she’s earned that. She’s elite. I think her game’s elevated.
“So, it’ll be fun to watch her play, see how she responds and these new players, but I think what I’m more curious about is how she does as a leader with this young group. Not because she’s not a great leader, but leading this young group of players will be a good challenge for her to sort out.”
Hambly is hopeful that as the season goes on, they’ll be able to put together a team that is as good if not better than last year. They’ve been knocking on the door of the Final Four with three straight Elite Eight appearances. Hopefully this year, they’ll be able to break through and make a more serious push for a national championship.
“Yeah, I think that’s the, we have a lot of solutions to a bunch of problems that we know are going to exist and then we’re going to have problems that we don’t know are going to exist with the personnel because we’ll have to sort out a lot there,” Hambly said. “I think the thing I like, though is that there’s more flexibility on our roster than we’ve had in a while. So, and a lot of players that can play. And so as long as we can stay healthy, I think we’ll be able to do more than we have as far as moves, putting people in, taking people out, trying people in spots to see if we could have more success than we’ve had in the past.”
A major thing Hambly is going to need in order to get this team to come together is patience. Given the youth on the team with six incoming freshmen, there are going to be learning curves along the way. Hambly is trying to find the right balance of exerting patience while also ensuring that he holds the team to a high standard.
“Patience is the right word,” Hambly said. “We have to find the appropriate level. I’m trying to find the appropriate level of holding them accountable, holding them to a standard, and then having the patience. Just like, I got to find what I want to tolerate from the group until and then that’ll change. That’ll be a moving target. Like, once they learn some things, that we can tolerate less, you know, because there’s gonna be some mistakes and we have to tolerate some, but we can’t tolerate all of them because we still need to win. We need to figure that out.”
With the season starting this week against No. 16 Florida and No. 1 Nebraska in Lincoln, Hambly feels like they’ll get tested right from the jump. He’s curious to see how his team performs and what lessons they can take from playing two of the best programs in the country:
“It’ll be a very good test to see where we are. You know, I think we’ll learn a lot in those matches. Last year we had the same, like a big, big, all eyes will be on us. We’re the only ones playing, so all eyes will be on us. It felt that way when we played Wisconsin and Minnesota last year in those matches and they were big matches for us, this being on FOX, you know and then on ESPN. It’ll be cool to be on the stage and see how these guys respond. Am I excited? I don’t know if I’m excited. I think I’m more curious and ready to get in the match, you know? And it’ll be fun to get back and compete. It feels like it’s been a long time since we’ve been in a real match.”
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