Recap: No. 4 Stanford Women’s Volleyball sweeps Notre Dame
On Friday, No. 4 Stanford women’s volleyball defeated Notre Dame 3-0 (25-22, 26-24, 25-14). Stanford’s Julia Blyashov, Erika Sayer, and Elia Rubin each had 12 kills for the Cardinal while Notre Dame’s Morgan Gaerte had 13 kills for the Irish. Stanford improves to 12-2 overall and 3-0 in the ACC while Notre Dame falls to 4-7 overall and 1-2 in the ACC.
BOX SCORE: Notre Dame at Stanford-Friday, October 3rd
“Yeah, I mean I thought we came out strong and then we got up to this big lead and then we kind of relaxed,” Stanford head coach Kevin Hambly said after the match. “And then they started to play and then they got loose and they started to do some nice things. And then, you know, we found a way to win that second set. It was a little bit of a, we had to scrap for it and claw and had to make some adjustments, which was good for us to see that we could. And I thought, and then the third set we kind of ran away with it and kept the pressure on them, especially the service pressure.
“I think the thing that was interesting is just how much we were just blasting low and hard on the block and they had 13 blocks, which because we were just hitting low and not playing our game. And so, we’re gonna have to clean that up, you know, as we go. We can’t have, that’s the second match we’ve been like that. It was the same as Virginia, we were hitting just low and just doing some, not really the smartest swings, so hopefully we can clean that up and get it sorted out.”
Stanford got off to a strong start in the opening set leading 6-1 as Julia Blyashov and Logan Parks each had a service ace. After an ace from Spencer Etzler, it was now an 8-2 lead for the Cardinal. Notre Dame would creep back into the set a bit as they trailed 13-7 following a kill from Gaerte. Stanford would quickly respond with a 3-0 run to lead 16-7 thanks to a kill by Blyashov followed by back-to-back kills from Lizzy Andrew.
Stanford would continue to cruise, leading 24-18 after a kill by Parks, giving them set point. Notre Dame wouldn’t give up though as they would win four straight points to make it 24-22, forcing Stanford to call for time. Stanford would win the next point to clinch the set 25-22 as Andrew got a kill off an assist from Parks. 1-0 lead for the Cardinal.
In the second set, Notre Dame got out to a 7-5 lead after a service ace by Maya Evens while Gaerte had a couple of kills early on in the set. After a kill by Rubin, Stanford led 12-11. Notre Dame then went on a 4-0 run to lead 15-12 as Sydney Helmers and Grace Langer each had a kill during the run. Stanford then called for time. After a kill by Helmers, Notre Dame led 16-14 before Stanford went on a 3-0 run to lead 17-16 as Sayer and Parks had kills during the run. It would continue to be a back and forth set until it was tied 24-24. Sayer and Blyashov then had back-to-back kills to give Stanford a 26-24 second set victory. 2-0 the Cardinal were now in front.
“We got blocked a bunch, so we gave a up a bunch of points,” Hambly said of the first two sets being so tight. “I mean, but we also scored 15 times and they only scored nine in the first set. You know, we had 21 kills and they had 15. So we outscored them in points. We almost scored 60 points. It’s 20 a set. That would be one of the top in the country. So we scored points, we just made some not great decisions to give them up, to give up some points as well.”
Early on in the third set, it was tied 4-4. But then, Stanford went on a 3-0 run as Blyashov had another kill while Sayer had back-to-back kills. That made it a 7-4 lead for the Cardinal. After a kill by Helmers made it 7-5, Stanford went on a 4-0 run to lead 11-5 as Sayer and Blyashov each had a kill during that run. Stanford continued to cruise, leading 16-7 after a kill by Andrew and 23-9 as two service aces by Rubin were part of a 5-0 run. Stanford would then lead 24-10 after a kill by Andrew. Notre Dame would go on a 4-0 run to make the final set score look a tad more respectable, but a kill by Blyashov finished the deal 25-14 as the Cardinal got a 3-0 sweep and their 20th straight victory at home.
“Yeah, I think as I just get more experience out there, it’s getting more settled in and stuff,” Blyashov said of how she feels her season is going. “I don’t know, it’s been awesome to be back and just have fun, enjoy the game, and just play with my teammates and go out and like, competing. It’s been an amazing time.”
“Yeah, she was good,” Hambly said of Blyashov. “Yeah, she played well. She hit high. She was attacking places that we were talking about and I thought she did a really nice job and she was very, very efficient, which was cool.”
For Stanford, this was a solid win. While Notre Dame pushed them in the first two sets, they still found a way to get the sweep as expected. They could have dropped a set and made the match a lot more interesting, but in the end they found a way to get the job done. At the same time, they know they have to play a lot better if they want to beat their peers in the top ten.
“I mean, it was nice to see us fight at the end,” Hambly said. “When we got tight we were totally calm. We were gonna win the set in our minds. So it wasn’t like, we were freaking out. Which is good. Because we’ve been in a lot of good battles. So, I think it was, you know, when you’re in those tight sets, if you can, like, winning those are important and I think we’ve done, we’ve [had] enough sets like that that we’re pretty comfortable.”
“Yeah, I mean, I thought we did a great job coming out with dominance and maintaining that throughout the match for the most part,” Blyashov added. “Very proud that we took care of that game and I mean, we kind of were just taking it one game at a time. Like, obviously, we know that we have a big matchup on Sunday, but we did what we needed to do and took care of business on the first match. Now, all eyes on the next match ahead of us.
“Yeah, Notre Dame is a great team and they definitely came out with a lot of fire and challenged us and I think we did a great job. You know, coming back at them and fighting back. So, very proud of the team for doing that.”
On that note, Stanford’s next match will be against a top ten team on Sunday as No. 6 Louisville comes to town. That match will begin at 2:00 PM PT on ESPN.
“We have to play a lot better than we did tonight,” Hambly said of facing Louisville. “They have a big block and if we make some of the decisions we made tonight, we’re gonna be in some trouble. We’re gonna have to play a little smarter.”
“Yeah, I mean we’re super excited that we get to have the opportunity to compete against this team at Maples,” Blyashov said. “We love our court, we love our fans, so that will be super fun. But at the end of the day, it’s just any other match and I don’t think that we need to make it a bigger deal than it is. And just keep playing our game and coming out strong and fighting and competing. So we’re all very excited and yeah, we’re ready to yeah, compete.”
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