University of Washington
Stanford
Volleyball Drops Three-Game Match to #21 Stanford
October 07, 2000 | Volleyball
Oct. 7, 2000
STANFORD, Calif. - Stanford's Tara Conrad had 15 kills to lead the 21st-ranked Cardinal over Washington 15-4, 15-10, 15-7, in Pac-10 volleyball action Saturday at Maples Pavilion. The Huskies fell to 4-10 overall and 0-7 in the Pac-10, while the Cardinal improved to 9-6 overall and a 4-4 mark in conference play.
The Huskies got 14 kills from sophomore Paige Benjamin (Redmond, Wash.), while junior Lisa Underhill (Vista, Calif.) added 10 in the loss. Setter Britni Churnside (Eugene, Ore.) posted a double-double with 27 assists and 10 digs in the losing effort.
The match started off rough for the Huskies as the Cardinal took an early lead at 3-0, before Washington could get on the board following a Tara Conrad hitting error. The Huskies scored point number two on another Conrad hitting error at 4-2, but then were unable to answer the Stanford charge as the Cardinal reeled off six more points to advance their lead to 10-2. A block by Underhill and junior Malena Thompson (Santa Fe, N.M.) followed by a Stanford hitting error pulled the Huskies to within six at 10-4, but the large margin proved too big as the Cardinal regained control to grab game one, 15-4.
After the game one loss, the UW switched to a different look on the court as freshman Kara Bjorklund (Olympia, Wash.) entered at the opposite position and junior Churnside took over the primary setting duties. The change seemed to spark the Huskies as they took the early lead, forcing a Stanford timeout at 5-2. The lead was short lived, however, as Stanford adapted to the new UW lineup, tying the score at 6-6 and then surging ahead to 8-6. Washington hung around as the two schools traded points until another Cardinal run put them ahead at 13-8. The Huskies managed to add two more to their total before Stanford pushed two to win the second game, 15-10.
The Huskies continued to struggle early as Stanford scored seven unanswered points, including five on hitting errors, to start the game at 7-0. UW finally got on the board with three consecutive points on a pair of kills from Bjorklund and a kill by Underhill, moving the score to 3-7. Stanford then went on an 8-4 run to end the match with a 15-7 game-three win.
Overall the Cardinal outblocked the Huskies by an 18-4 margin as they hit .328 as a team in the victory.
The Huskies return home next weekend for two Pac-10 matches versus Oregon Friday and Oregon State Saturday. Both matches are set to begin at 7 p.m. in the Hec Edmundson Pavilion Addition.
