Cougars Arrive At Penthouse Washington State Upsets No. 3 Stanford

With its seventh match point and final blocked shot, for the first time, Washington State University blasted its way past No. 3 Stanford and vaulted into the elite pack of collegiate volleyball teams.

WSU coach Cindy Fredrick embraced the program’s poster child, Sarah Silvernail. Jennifer Stinson soon joined the hugfest, and the 2,612 spectators celebrated with abandon after the No. 13 Cougars dumped Stanford Sunday afternoon at Bohler Gym, 15-6, 11-15, 15-7, 17-15.

Such joyous reactions usually are reserved for teams that have won an NCAA championship.

It might have seemed like that, for the Cougars had never beaten the Cardinal in 21 previous attempts. Stanford (17-4, 10-1 Pac-10), had not lost to a conference opponent since falling to UCLA in five games on Nov. 4, 1994, a streak that spanned 33 matches.

“That’s the way it is every night we play,” Stanford coach Don Shaw said. “And that’s part of the deal. We’re going to drop one once in awhile. But what you see on the other side of the net is usually the best (effort) from the other team.”

Another part of the deal is that Stanford, NCAA champions twice since 1992, plays stubbornly down the stretch. After taking a 2-1 lead in games, Washington State (17-4, 8-3) cruised to a 13-3 lead in the fourth game, partly helped by five Cardinal errors. Stanford fought back to 13-8 before the Cougars sided out on a Silvernail kill.

Another Stanford error - Sarah Clark’s kill sailed wide - and the Cougars were at match point with the score at 14-8. After five match-point attempts resulted in Stanford side-outs, the visitors eventually evened the game at 14-14.

WSU pulled ahead 15-14 when one of Stanford’s stable of big hitters, Kristin Folkl, mishit a kill. The Cardinal had 16 errors in the final game, 38 in the match to WSU’s 29.

“When we got to the 15th point, I thought, this is OK ‘cause we still had the momentum,” Fredrick said.

But it wasn’t until WSU’s seventh match point, when Stinson scored a clean block off a Folkl kill attempt, that the Cougars achieved one of their program’s goals since joining the Pac-10 11 years ago.

“We dug ourselves into a pretty deep hole there,” said Shaw, who holds a 335-61 record at Stanford in 16-1/2 seasons. “WSU did a great job on us. They mixed up their serves. For the most part, we handled their serves pretty well.”

But not against WSU setter Stephanie Papke, who served three straight aces in the third game to bring the Cougars to game point. Papke also had six kills, finding the open holes while Stanford guarded against Silvernail, Stinson, Keren Oigman and Jennifer Canevari.

“Those serves were out, but our left back (Eileen Murfee) got in the way three times,” Shaw said. “Those balls would have been five to 10 feet out. She (Murfee) was standing on the backline, taking the ball up by her chest. That’s just a lack of execution on our part.”

Nonetheless, the aces showed up as points and the Cougars closed the third game on an Oigmen kill. Oigmen finished with 15 kills, second to Silvernail’s 23.

The Cougars went to Silvernail sparingly in the first two games in what proved to be a successful attempt to mix up their offense.

Stanford was led by Murfee’s 21 kills. Freshman Kerri Walsh, touted as the top 1995 high school recruit in the country, landed 18 kills.

The only downside to WSU’s win occurred late in the second game when Shannon Wyckoff landed awkwardly on her left ankle. The junior outside hitter was taken for X-rays, although she returned to Bohler Gym in time for the Cougars’ celebration. , DataTimes ILLUSTRATION: 2 Color Photos