Returning to the Final Four
Like the women’s and men’s soccer teams before them, the Stanford women’s volleyball players are about to board the Final Four express.
And that means two Cardinal players, setter Jenna Gray and middle blocker Audriana Fitzmorris, are going home to Kansas City, Mo. Both attended St. James Academy in suburban Lenexa, Kansas.
The third-seeded Cardinal made the NCAA semifinals for the 21st time in program history by beating No. 6 Texas 25-21, 25-21, 25-21 in the regional final Saturday night at Maples Pavilion.
The contest was a rematch of last year’s national final, won by Stanford in four sets. This time the Cardinal had too much defense and too much Kathryn Plummer. The regional MVP had 19 kills.
“Kathryn carried a big load,” head coach Kevin Hambly said. “We probably set her too much — 46 swings. But she came through, especially in big moments.”
“Both teams are really physical,” Plummer said. “You saw that last year, and you saw it tonight. This was a very offensive game.”
Stanford (30-3) will play No. 2 Florida in the national semifinals Friday. No. 1 Penn State will meet No. 5 Nebraska in the other semifinal. The final is Sunday.
Merete Lutz, a 6-foot-8 fifth-year senior, had the match-ending kill, right after Tami Alade rose for a kill to make it 24-21.
Fitzmorris had 10 kills for the Cardinal. Gray had 39 assists, libero Morgan Hentz had 19 digs and outside hitter Meghan McClure 14.
Micaya White had 10 kills and 13 digs for the Longhorns (27-3), whose 21-match winning streak was snapped.
Gray “gives us opportunities that no other setter gets in the country,” Plummer said. “She’s really underrated. She allows us to kind of be the stars and doesn’t get as much credit as she deserves.”
Texas scored the match’s first five points before the Cardinal fought back to take the first set. “They did a nice job of attacking us, especially early,” Hambly said. “I like the composure that we showed.”
Stanford hit .304 while Texas hit .255.
The Cardinal took the lead in the set for good after back-to-back aces by Gray made it 15-13, prompting a Texas timeout. Plummer had six kills, and McClure had seven digs. Texas libero Cat McCoy had seven of her 15 digs in the set.
The Cardinal took the second set as Plummer had 10 kills, including one for set point, and Gray had 12 assists. This time the Cardinal led almost from the start. Hentz made nine digs in the set, none better than one that led to a Plummer kill for 21-14.
In the third set, the 6-0 McClure had back-to-back kills and added a third five points later to make it 8-8. Hentz drew a big hand from the crowd of 2,933 for two spectacular digs even though Stanford lost the point on a Morgan Johnson kill.