Cardinal defeat Badgers to reach regional final
The final of Stanford’s NCAA women’s volleyball regional will be a rematch of last year’s national final. Stanford won that one 3-1 over Texas and the Cardinal would be delighted to pull a repeat, this time on their own court.
Third-seeded Stanford spotted unseeded Wisconsin the first set before storming back for a 22-25, 25-20, 25-21, 25-19 victory Friday night in the semifinals at Maples Pavilion.
The Cardinal (29-3) will play the No. 6 Longhorns (27-2) in the final Saturday at 7 p.m. Texas outlasted No. 11 Utah 25-19, 6-25, 24-26, 25-21, 16-14 in a 2½-hour match.
Saturday’s winner will earn a trip to the Final Four on Dec. 14-16 in Kansas City, Mo. Stanford is gunning for a 21st Final Four appearance and an eighth national title.
Kathryn Plummer had 22 kills to lead the Cardinal and Merete Lutz had 16. Setter Jenna Gray had 53 assists, and Stanford hit .436 to just .315 for Wisconsin. The Badgers’ twin freshman threats, Grace Loberg and Dana Rettke, had 20 and 13 kills respectively.
Despite being ranked No. 11 in the final coaches’ poll, Wisconsin (22-10) was not one of the 16 seeds in the tournament. The Badgers gave the Cardinal a tussle, especially in the first set.
Rettke, the Big Ten freshman of the year, led the Badgers in kills (3.42 per set) and hitting percentage (.446). The 6-foot-8 middle blocker delivered the decisive kill in the first set, her sixth. Loberg had seven kills in the set, and the Badgers hit .593.
Despite four service errors, Stanford evened the match in the second set as Plummer had seven kills. The Cardinal took the lead for good at 9-8 and had a .471 hitting percentage in the set, to just .278 for the Badgers.
The third set was similar to the second. Stanford took the edge at 14-13 and maintained it the rest of the way. This time Wisconsin had the four service errors, including one on set point. Plummer had six kills and Lutz five in the set.
With a 12-9 lead in the fourth set, Stanford libero Morgan Hentz made a great diving dig, getting the ball to Gray, who set up Plummer for an apparent kill. But the point was erased when a replay review called by Wisconsin detected a Stanford net violation. Undaunted, the Cardinal scored the next four points.
In the earlier semifinal, Micaya White 13 kills and 20 digs and Ashley Shook 50 assists as Texas won its 20th straight match. Adora Anae delivered 25 kills for the Utes (24-10), but Texas had a huge hitting advantage, .429 to .224. Briefly: This is Stanford’s 37th straight NCAA postseason appearance. The only other school to play in the tournament every year since it began in 1981 is Penn State. … The Cardinal ran their home record to 13-0 this season and have won 17 straight matches at Maples dating to last season. Only Washington and UCLA extended them beyond three sets, and both matches went to five.