No. 5 Stanford women’s volleyball squeezes out the Syracuse Orange in sweep

Stanford women’s volleyball (12-2, 4-1 ACC) confidently defeated Syracuse (12-5, 0-5 ACC) in three sets (25-22, 25-13, 25-8) during a Friday game at Maples Pavillion. The Cardinal now look on, with a three game win streak, to Boston College on Saturday. 

Unsurprisingly, senior setter Kami Miner, middle blocker Sami Francis and fifth-year libero Elena Oglivie led the lineup, along with notable performances from sophomore opposite hitter Jordyn Harvey, freshman opposite hitter Taylor Yu and redshirt freshman hitter Ipar Kurt. 

The first set started with both teams alternating service errors, but eventually the game straightened out and the teams earned points through tipping. Early in the match, with Stanford leading 7-3, head coach Kevin Hambly challenged a call. Hambly argued that a ball landed out, but his challenge was ultimately overruled.

After the challenge, Stanford found its rhythm with Harvey and Kurt leading the charge on offense. Moreover, Francis and Miner showed their chemistry and commanded the set, displaying their defensive prowess by stuff blocking Syracuse opposite Ava Palm numerous times throughout the game. The service errors for both teams never straightened out and continued to be a problem not just throughout this set, but ultimately for the rest of the game. Harvey found kills in the corner right for a lot of the first set, finding a sweet spot that the Orange just couldn’t defend.

At the start of set two, Stanford found itself scrambling. The rallies were getting longer, as both teams became more comfortable and each reset was proving to be more and more difficult. Nevertheless, Stanford scored with Francis making some key kills to the right back side of the Syracuse defense. Yu made the transition from setter to opposite for the past few games, and has contributed greatly to the team’s performance. Ultimately, the longer rallies ended in Stanford’s favor with an opportunity for many players to show off smart moves to end the plays, like cut shots and block coverage.

Stanford also came out dominant right away in set three with Francis having two kills in a row and then a stuff block. Syracuse just never seemed to catch up. Anna Pringle was picking up numerous digs while Miner showed us all her impressive setter dumps. 

The Cardinal, ranked No. 3, have yet to improve on their serving and their ability to reach the middle dead zone of the court — the campfire zone. However, the team won’t have much to digest this game, as they’ll play Boston College in Maples Pavilion on Saturday. 

While Boston College will likely not pose much of a challenge for Stanford, it is set to take on contenders such as No. 15 SMU and No. 1 Pittsburgh next week.

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