Post by bigfan on Oct 12, 2006 15:20:51 GMT -5
Cardinal swing through SoCal
By Andrew Lomeli
With five teams ranked among the top 10 in the nation, the Pacific-10 Conference offers little room for error for the No. 6 Just one week after an impressive win over No. 7 California, the Cardinal (13-2, 4-1 Pac-10) must travel to Los Angeles this weekend for crucial conference match-ups against No. 4 Southern California and No. 3 UCLA.
Head coach John Dunning said his squad’s performance against the Bears last weekend will provide positive momentum heading into two of the season’s toughest matches.
“I’m really surprised we won the match the way we did,” Dunning said. “Confidence comes from doing good things and playing well consistently, like we did last weekend. And we’ll need that confidence on the road this week.”
Dunning described the Cal match as Stanford’s best of the year — and rightfully so. The Cardinal hit a whopping .354 as a team, en route to the easy 30-20, 30-22, 30-21 victory.
Sophomore Cynthia Barboza paces the Cardinal’s offense with 4.59 kills per game for a .313 hitting percentage. Fellow-sophomore Foluke Akinradewo is hitting .430 with 3.76 kills per game.
Stanford meets the Women of Troy (17-0, 6-0 Pac-10) tonight at the grand opening of the new Galen Center at 7 p.m. USC nabbed a tense, five-game win over Arizona State last weekend before sweeping Arizona one day later, despite hitting under .200 against the Wildcats. Asia Kaczor leads the Trojans with a .300 hitting percentage and 4.48 kills per game.
“I don’t know that USC has a weakness,” Dunning said. “They’ve got a lot of new players, but system-wise, they’re as tough as they were last year.”
As a team, the Women of Troy are hitting .266 while holding opponents to .133. USC returns three starters after having lost All-American middle blocker Bibiana Candelas to graduation.
The Cardinal took both matches from USC last season by margins of 3-0 and 3-2.
Stanford then drives down the road for a match-up against the Bruins (19-0, 6-0 Pac-10) tomorrow at 7 p.m. UCLA also swept the Arizona schools last weekend. Senior Nana Mariwether leads the Bruins offense, hitting .509 with 4.05 kills per game. UCLA is hitting .252 for the season while allowing opponents to hit just .152.
The Cardinal swept the season series last year.
“UCLA is a team that came out of the gate really quickly this season,” Dunning said. “They seem to make a lot of mistakes, but they force others to make mistakes as well. They’ve been playing at a consistently hard level and have really improved over the past two weeks.”
Both USC and UCLA defeated No. 5 Washington — one of only two squads to collect a win over Stanford so far in 2006. None of the conference’s top five teams (UCLA, USC, Washington, Stanford and California) have yet to lose at home, but the Cardinal are hoping to change that streak this weekend.
“It’s a weird situation playing two undefeated teams in your conference during the same weekend,” Dunning said. “They’ve both had great wins so far, and we’ll definitely have our hands full. It’s a chance for us to play great volleyball against great teams.”
By Andrew Lomeli
With five teams ranked among the top 10 in the nation, the Pacific-10 Conference offers little room for error for the No. 6 Just one week after an impressive win over No. 7 California, the Cardinal (13-2, 4-1 Pac-10) must travel to Los Angeles this weekend for crucial conference match-ups against No. 4 Southern California and No. 3 UCLA.
Head coach John Dunning said his squad’s performance against the Bears last weekend will provide positive momentum heading into two of the season’s toughest matches.
“I’m really surprised we won the match the way we did,” Dunning said. “Confidence comes from doing good things and playing well consistently, like we did last weekend. And we’ll need that confidence on the road this week.”
Dunning described the Cal match as Stanford’s best of the year — and rightfully so. The Cardinal hit a whopping .354 as a team, en route to the easy 30-20, 30-22, 30-21 victory.
Sophomore Cynthia Barboza paces the Cardinal’s offense with 4.59 kills per game for a .313 hitting percentage. Fellow-sophomore Foluke Akinradewo is hitting .430 with 3.76 kills per game.
Stanford meets the Women of Troy (17-0, 6-0 Pac-10) tonight at the grand opening of the new Galen Center at 7 p.m. USC nabbed a tense, five-game win over Arizona State last weekend before sweeping Arizona one day later, despite hitting under .200 against the Wildcats. Asia Kaczor leads the Trojans with a .300 hitting percentage and 4.48 kills per game.
“I don’t know that USC has a weakness,” Dunning said. “They’ve got a lot of new players, but system-wise, they’re as tough as they were last year.”
As a team, the Women of Troy are hitting .266 while holding opponents to .133. USC returns three starters after having lost All-American middle blocker Bibiana Candelas to graduation.
The Cardinal took both matches from USC last season by margins of 3-0 and 3-2.
Stanford then drives down the road for a match-up against the Bruins (19-0, 6-0 Pac-10) tomorrow at 7 p.m. UCLA also swept the Arizona schools last weekend. Senior Nana Mariwether leads the Bruins offense, hitting .509 with 4.05 kills per game. UCLA is hitting .252 for the season while allowing opponents to hit just .152.
The Cardinal swept the season series last year.
“UCLA is a team that came out of the gate really quickly this season,” Dunning said. “They seem to make a lot of mistakes, but they force others to make mistakes as well. They’ve been playing at a consistently hard level and have really improved over the past two weeks.”
Both USC and UCLA defeated No. 5 Washington — one of only two squads to collect a win over Stanford so far in 2006. None of the conference’s top five teams (UCLA, USC, Washington, Stanford and California) have yet to lose at home, but the Cardinal are hoping to change that streak this weekend.
“It’s a weird situation playing two undefeated teams in your conference during the same weekend,” Dunning said. “They’ve both had great wins so far, and we’ll definitely have our hands full. It’s a chance for us to play great volleyball against great teams.”
