Stanford knocks out Huskies

LONG BEACH, Calif. – Stanford defeated Washington 30-25, 23-30, 30-27, 30-24 Thursday in the first semifinal of the NCAA Division I Women’s Volleyball Championship at the Long Beach Arena.

The Cardinal won its 14th consecutive match while knocking out the Huskies, making their eighth appearance in the tournament but their first in the semifinals.

Stanford (29-6) will play for the national championship Saturday against Thursday’s winner between Minnesota and Southern California. The Cardinal will play for its sixth volleyball title. Stanford has reached the championship match 11 times.

AVCA All-America first-team selection Ogonna Nnamani led Stanford by tallying 33 kills, 21 digs and five blocks. She attacked at a .333 hitting percentage.

Stanford’s Kristin Richards added 14 kills and 22 digs, while Jennifer Hucke contributed 11 kills and 10 blocks.

Stanford hit .257 for the match and held the Huskies to a .208 attack percentage.

Brie Hagerty led Washington with 21 kills and a .367 attack percentage, while Sanja Tomasevic totaled 20 kills, 22 digs and seven blocks.

Darla Myhre chipped in a match-high 13 blocks and eight kills for the Huskies. UW’s Kaitlin Leck added 11 kills and six blocks, and Courtney Thompson had 60 assists.

Stanford captured the first game thanks to a 9-0 run. After Washington evened the match by winning the second game, Stanford rallied from a 23-19 deficit to take the third.

Stanford hit .475 in the fourth game to clinch the win.

Stanford took a 5-2 lead in the first game after successive kills by Nnamani. Washington used a 4-1 run to trail just 10-8, but the Cardinal followed with an 8-2 run fueled by Nnamani’s four kills.

Washington snapped a 6-all tie in the second game highlighted by two kills and a solo block by Tomasevic. The Huskies built a 17-11 advantage, and held off the Cardinal with a late 5-2 burst. Hagerty had seven kills in the second-game win.

Washington overcame a 7-3 third-game deficit to lead 12-11 after Tomasevic’s two kills and one block. Leck added two kills to build the Huskies’ edge to 19-15, and Myhre and Hagerty added later kills for a 21-16 advantage.

Washington led 23-19 after Hagerty’s consecutive kills, but the Huskies committed three errors while giving up a 5-0 Stanford run. Stanford closed the game with an 8-2 run.

Washington led the fourth game 9-6 after an ace, but Stanford scored seven of the next nine points. Washington led for the final time at 16-15.

In the late semifinal, Minnesota led Southern California 2-1 in games and 11-7 in the fourth game, attempting to clinch a title-match appearance against the Cardinal.