No. 3 Stanford volleyball fends off No. 4 Washington State, snap Cougars win streak

From staff reports

PULLMAN – Stanford’s two All-Americans – Kendall Kipp and Kami Miner – played like All-Americans.

The unfortunate news for Washington State on Sunday was Stanford’s Elia Rubin played like one, too.

Rubin pounded a career-high 21 kills, and the third-ranked Cardinal escaped with a 31-29, 29-27, 23-25, 25-19 victory over No. 4 WSU in a Pac-12 Conference women’s volleyball match at Bohler Gym.

Stanford improved to 69-4 all-time against the Cougars, who were riding a 14-match win streak and hadn’t lost since late August. The Cardinal (13-2, 6-0 Pac-12) have beaten WSU (15-2, 5-1) in seven consecutive matches, but Sunday’s encounter showed just how razor-thin the margin between the two programs has become this season.

WSU had three set points in the first game but couldn’t close it out. Magda Jehlarova’s kill gave the Cougars a 28-27 lead, but Rubin answered with a kill to even the score. Stanford led 30-29 after McKenna Vicini’s kill, and Caitie Baird’s spike on the ensuing point gave the set to the Cardinal.

Pia Timmer gave WSU a 25-24 lead in the second game before Rubin had back-to-back kills to swing the lead to Stanford at 26-25. Iman Isanovic produced a kill for the Cougars to even the score at 27-all, but Baird had consecutive kills to close out the set.

The Cardinals rallied from four points down and clawed within 24-23, but a Kipp service error gave WSU the set.

The Cougars never led in the final set. The teams were tied 6-6 before the Cardinal reeled off nine of the next 13 points to take control. Kipp had nine of her 20 kills in the set.

Baird finished with 18 kills, and Miner dished out 59 assists for Stanford. Elena Oglivie had a match-high 27 digs.

For WSU, Isanovic and Katy Ryan had 14 kills apiece, Timmer had 11 and Jehlarova 10. Setter Argentina Ung had 42 assists and a team-best 17 digs.