By Divine Edem on November 2, 2014

On Friday night and Sunday morning, No. 1 Stanford (22-0, 12-0 Pac-12) continued its undefeated season romp against No. 35 Oregon State (15-8, 5-7) and No. 7 Oregon (17-5, 7-5). Like many others, the Beavers and the Ducks put up strong fights against the Cardinal. However, Stanford stayed true to its course, beating Oregon State (25-17, 22-25, 26-24, 25-15) in four sets and sweeping Oregon (25-23, 25-21, 25-21).

In the first set against the Beavers, redshirt freshman middle blocker Merete Lutz started off the game with a bang, earning Stanford the first point. Despite a short stretch of trailing the Beavers, Lutz, along with junior middle blocker Inky Ajanaku and junior outside hitter Brittany Howard, were able to tie up the game at 5-5. Soon, errors from Oregon State and a nice service ace from senior libero Kyle Gilbert put Stanford in the lead 10-6 before Oregon State called the first timeout of the game.

The period coming out of the timeout served as leverage for the Beavers to come close to tying the score with Stanford until kills form Lutz and Howard and a strong block from Lutz ceased Oregon State’s momentum. The Cardinal continued to maintain their lead with kills from Howard and Ajanaku increasing the score to 18-13 before Oregon State called its second timeout.

The second timeout of the first set did not slow down Stanford’s momentum by a long shot, with the Cardinal still jumping out to a 10-point lead at 24-14. However, Oregon State’s final attempts to score a few points forced Stanford to use its first timeout of the match in order to bring the players back in focus. Ajanaku’s impressive kill closed out the first set, giving Stanford a match score of 1-0.

The second set proved to be much tougher for the Cardinal, with the final score coming down to a three-point difference. In set two, Stanford and Oregon State went point for point until kills by Ajanaku and Morgan Boukather put Stanford ahead 7-5. But errors started arising on the Cardinal end, which allowed Oregon State to take advantage and gain a lead of 12-8. An average four-point difference remained between the two teams until kills by Ajanaku, Boukather and junior outside hitter Jordan Burgess shortened the gap to three points before the Cardinal lost.

The third and fourth sets saw Stanford’s return to its playing dynamics of the first set. In the fourth set, the Cardinal and Beavers went kill for kill until two strategic kills by Ajanaku put Stanford in the lead. Impressive kills by Burgess and a service ace by junior setter Madi Bugg widened the lead by three points to 10-7. Oregon State’s offense tried to close the gap with two kills until a block by Boukather set the Cardinal on a scoring run of 8-1. Bugg continued to utilize the strengths of Stanford’s outside hitters and middle blockers to finish the set at 25-15, earning Stanford its 21st consecutive victory of the season.

By the end of the match, Ajanaku led the team with a career-high of 18 kills and a hitting percentage of .469. Both Boukather and Howard had 14 kills, with close hitting percentages of .357 and .364, respectively. Burgess scored her 12th double-double of the season with 10 kills and 14 digs. Bugg also made an astounding 59 assists in addition to her 18 digs.

In the ensuing match against Oregon, the match between the Cardinal and the Ducks remained extremely tight with both teams going back and forth up until the 17th point in the first set. Oregon distanced itself from Stanford with a two-point lead at 19-17 until a necessary kill by Ajanaku and a service from Howard brought the game back to a tie. Not allowing Oregon to make the best of Stanford’s small errors, Burgess scored two strategic kills, which tied the game at 23-23. Big blocks by Boukather, Howard and Lutz gave Stanford the small but important lead it needed to win the first set of the match.

The second set saw Stanford get off to a slow start with attack errors and defensive issues, leaving the Cardinal four points behind the Ducks at 5-9 before Stanford called its first timeout. The timeout allowed Stanford to take a moment to figure out adjustments in order to get back into a positive groove.

Multiple kills by Boukather, Burgess and Howard put Stanford back in the game with a tie score of 14-14. The set became very tight with each team refusing to let the other gain the advantage until kills by Ajanaku and Boukather put the Cardinal back on top. Within the last five points, Oregon called two timeouts to slow down Stanford’s momentum. However, Burgess did not let Oregon’s attempts succeed by making a breakthrough kill after a service ace from Gilbert, putting Stanford up 2-0 in the match.

The third and final set paralleled the first two sets with both teams putting up their biggest strengths, leaving the set very tight until the last few points of the game. With the set tied at 19 apiece, Boukather’s kill pushed Stanford ahead of Oregon by one point and Howard’s kills put the score at 23-20. Then, once again, Burgess closed out the set with her 15th kill, ending Stanford’s stay in Oregon with another hard-earned win.

Burgess recorded another double-double with 15 kills and 11 digs. Boukather led the offensive lineup in hitting percentage with a season-high of .625. In addition, Bugg recorded 43 assists and Gilbert and Howard made 10 digs to round out the victorious weekend for the Cardinal.

Stanford volleyball will return home this week to face No. 19 Arizona State and No. 15 Arizona at Maples Pavilion. The match will be broadcasted live on the Pac-12 Networks at 7:30 p.m.

Contact Divine Edem at dedem ‘at’ stanford.edu.