Since Stanford, then ranked No. 1, got upset by BYU on August 31, the Cardinal have simply steamrolled opponents.
That continued Tuesday night when No. 2 Stanford swept visiting No. 3 Texas to improve to 7-1 with its fifth win in a row.
The third set was a battle â Stanford won 25-15, 25-22, 32-30 â but the Cardinal are hitting on all cylinders as the same teams head into a Friday rematch in Austin.
The result punctuated a night that included quite a few in-state and rivalry matches as non-conference play continues in NCAA Division I womenâs volleyball.
There are just eight matches on Wednesdayâs schedule, but that includes No. 11 Florida of the SEC at Florida State of the ACC in an annual match that is often memorable, and Pepperdine of the West Coast Conference at UC Irvine of the Big West. Duke of the ACC plays host to Elon of the Colonial.
Stanford sweeps Texas: Stanford has won six of its matches this season by sweeps, losing only in five to BYU and then a set to Minnesota. Tuesday, Kathryn Plummer led Stanford with 13 kills, three aces, three assists, 10 digs and a block. Audriana Fitzmorris had 11 kills with one error in 21 attacks to hit .476 and added three blocks. Meghan McClure had six kills, an assist, three digs and three blocks, one solo, and Tami Alade had two kills and six blocks, one solo.
Stanford, which won its 22nd consecutive home match fought off four set points and won the third set on consecutive kills by Fitzmorris, Plummer and setter Jenna Gray. Gray had three kills in four errorless attacks, four aces, two digs and two blocks.
Texas (5-2) was led by Brionne Butler, who had 11 kills and hit .318. She had three blocks. Micaya White had nine kills, three aces and seven digs and Logan Eggleston and Yaazie Bedart-Ghani had seven kills each. Eggleston had two aces, a block and two digs and Bedart-Ghani had no errors in 10 swings to hit .700 while getting two blocks. Setter Ashley Shook had four kills, seven digs and three blocks.
The Longhornsâ only other loss was at Wisconsin.
No. 24 Alabama is 10-0: The Crimson Tide had to go the distance to beat visiting Samford from nearby Birmingham 18-25, 25-21, 23-25, 25-19, 15-10.
Alabama, ranked in the AVCA Coaches Poll for the first time, got 14 kills from Ginger Perinar, who had an assist, five digs and two blocks, one solo. Doris Carter and Mahalia Swink had 13 kills each and Hayley McSparin 11. Carter had an ace, 13 digs and two blocks, one solo, while Swing had 14 digs and three blocks, one solo. McSparin had seven blocks, three solo.
Samford of the Southern Conference (4-7) was led by Krista Boesing, who had 19 kills, five digs and three solo blocks. Kelsi Hobbs had 14 kills, Shayla Phillip 13 and three blocks, and Lauren Deaton 11 kills and 14 digs.
Virginia Tech sweeps, UVa gets swept: The two ACC schools in action Tuesday had opposite results.
Virginia Tech is 9-1 after beating visiting VCU (4-7) 25-16, 25-18, 25-21. Four Hokies hit .400 or better as VT hit .301 as a team. Jalia Tolbert (10 kills, .625, two digs, four blocks, one solo) and Ester Talamazzi (10 kills, an assist, seven digs, three blocks) led Virginia Tech. Setter Rhegan Mitchell had four kills in five errorless swings, an ace and five digs.
VCU, which lost to Virginia for the 15th time in a row, got 15 kills from Vicky Giommarini, who hit .357 and had nine digs, an assist and an ace.
Virginia lost at Liberty 27-25, 25-22, 25-21 as Jenna Culhan led Liberty (3-7) with 10 kills. Sarah Billiard had 12 kills and Jelena Novakovic 10 for the Cavaliers (4-6).
Memphis tops Ole Miss: The Rebels (9-2) had won eight in a row before losing to visiting Memphis 16-25, 25-21, 30-28, 20-25, 15-10.
Memphis won for the first time in the series since 2005 and was its first win in Oxford since 1995.Â
Memphis (7-5) got 20 kills from Hannah Flowers, who hit .405, had three assists, an ace, two digs and five blocks. Kelsea Bivins had 17 kills, 10 digs, a block and an ace. Kelsey Walter had seven kills and seven blocks, one solo.
Mississippiâs Emily Stroup had 27 kills, two assists, two aces, and 12 digs. Caitlin Wernetin had 10 kills.
Around the nation: Lipscomb (5-4) beat crosstown Nashville rival Belmont (0-9) 25-11, 25-17, 25-10 as Carlyle Nusbaum led with 19 kills while hitting .452 âŚ
Tulane (9-3) has won only by 3-0 counts and swept Southeastern Louisiana (1-9) as Dayna Kern had 10 kills and hit .818 in a match between Louisiana schools âŚ
Weber State beat in-state foe Utah Valley 22-25, 25-20, 25-17, 29-31, 15-5 to improve to 4-3. Andrea Hale had 28 kills, hit .415, and had six digs and two blocks, one solo. Utah Valley (8-4) got 21 kills from Kristen Allred, who had 11 digs âŚ
Lehigh is 10-1 after beating Maryland Eastern Shore (3-7) in four. Sabrina Lancaster led with 22 kills. She had an ace, a block and eight digs âŚ
In a match of Rhode Island teams, Bryant (8-4) won at Providence (6-5) as Kristin Kingi had 13 kills, 13 digs, two assists, and an ace. Allison Impellizeri led PC with 14 kills and seven blocks, three solo âŚ
The Big East went 0-2 for the night as Providenceâs league foe Seton Hall (4-6) lost in four to Princeton (5-3). Maggie OâConnell had 17 kills and hit .351 for the Tigers, while Abby Thelen led Seton Hall with 14 kills âŚ
Texas State swept Texas-San Antonio. Cheyenne Huskey led Texas State (6-5) with 21 kills while hitting .533 to go with two digs and three blocks. UTSA (7-3) got 17 kills from Kenedi Rutherford âŚ
Another all-Texas affair saw Stephen F. Austin (10-2) beat visiting Rice (6-4) as Peyton Redmond had 16 kills. Nicole Lennon led Rice with 17 kills âŚ
Meg Wolowicz had 30 kills for NIU, but the Huskies lost to visiting Chicago State (6-6). Lauryn Dela Cruz had 21 kills and 18 digs for Chicago State (6-6) âŚ
UNC Asheville (5-5) beat visiting Western Carolina (6-5) in four as Cara Guthrie had 18 kills and 13 digs and Madisen Zyburt had 33 digs âŚ
Robert Morris (4-7) beat Youngstown State (6-5) 25-23, 25-15, 24-26, 25-15 as Emma Granger had 18 kills, hit .567, had five aces and four blocks, one solo âŚ
Athena Ardilla and Hannah Boyd had 23 kills apiece and each had just four errors as Northeastern (5-5) beat New Hampshire (4-7) …
And UTRGV (7-4) swept Texas A&M Corpus Christi (1-9) as Barbara Silva had 15 kills and hit .448 to go with 10 digs and three blocks. Teammate Alexandra Ecker had two blocks to become the schoolâs all-time blocks leader.
How did Stanford fight off four match points in the third set if they were up 2 sets in the match? Was that meant to say SET points instead?
Good catch.