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Uploaded: Friday, October 5, 2012, 9:31 PM
Cardinal blocks Ducks' attempt to remain unbeaten
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Photo
 | Kyle Gilbert and the Stanford defense never rested. It resulted in an important Pac-12 women's volleyball victory Friday night.
The seventh-ranked Cardinal upset previously undefeated and second-ranked Oregon, 25-23, 18-25, 23-25, 25-20, 15-10, Friday, in front of a raucous crowd of over 2,600 fans at Maples Pavilion.
Gilbert recorded a career-high 24 digs as Stanford limited the Ducks to a .168 hitting percentage.
Freshman Inky Ajanaku and junior Carly Wopat were also deterrents to Oregon's lack of relative success. Ajanaku was in on 10 blocks, Wopat was in on eight, including a solo block, and Stanford recorded a season-best 18 1/2 blocks on the night.
Wopat added 15 kills for the Cardinal (5-0, 13-2), which won its 11th straight since dropping two in a row. Brittany Howard had a season-high 14 kills and added 13 digs.
The Cardinal host Oregon State in a 2 p.m. contest Sunday, a match to be televised on the Pac-12 networks.
Oregon dropped its first match of the season.
Sophomore Morgan Boukather added eight kills and five blocks, freshman setter Madi Bugg recorded 32 assists, eight digs and two blocks, and senior setter Karissa Cook added 14 assists and six digs.
Stanford edged Oregon 25-23 to capture the first set. The Cardinal trailed early, but gained momentum down the stretch. Oregon used its second timeout with Stanford up 20-17. The Ducks tied it at 22-22, but the Cardinal was able to close it out.
Oregon answered in the second, evening the match with a 25-18 victory. The Cardinal led early, but the Ducks found their offensive rhythm and limited their errors. Tied 11-11, Oregon used a 6-1 run to take the lead for good.
The Ducks escaped with a 25-23 win in the third set after 14 tie scores and nine lead changes.
Stanford forced a fifth set by winning the fourth, 25-20. Tied 10-10, the Cardinal took advantage of an 8-3 run and held off the Ducks.
The Ducks jumped to a 6-1 lead in the fifth set, but the Cardinal was able to claw its way back to tie the score at 8-8 and outscored the Ducks 14-4 overall.
Stanford's defense was huge in the final set, registering five blocks.
Women's tennis
Krista Hardebeck's impressive tournament run at the Riviera/ITA All-American Championships came to an end Friday afternoon in the quarterfinals.
Playing in her first collegiate tournament, the Cardinal freshman suffered a 5-7, 6-2, 7-6 (0) loss to fourth-seeded Zoe Scandalis of USC with a semifinal berth on the line.
Hardebeck, who earned a spot in the main draw after ripping off three straight victories in the qualifying round, had already defeated Caroline Price of North Carolina 6-4, 6-2 in her first match of the day.
Hardebeck compiled a 5-1 overall record during her tournament run, with all of her victories coming in straight sets while not surrendering more than four games in any frame prior to Friday's loss.
Meanwhile, Ellen Tsay captured the singles consolation title of the qualifying draw. After a first-round bye, Tsay defeated Illinois' Melissa Kopinski, Duke's Mary Clayton and Pepperdine's Khunpak Issara before being crowned the champion in a walkover against Alabama's Alexa Guarachi (injury).
Field hockey
Becky Dru and Courtney Haldeman scored two goals apiece, pacing a dominant offensive attack in No. 14 Stanford's 5-0 shutout of UC Davis on Friday night at the Varsity Turf.
Shannon Herold also factored into the scoring with her first goal of the year, as the Cardinal (8-4, 2-0 NorPac) outshot the Aggies (6-7, 2-1 NorPac) by an 18-3 count while holding an 11-2 edge in penalty corners.
Playing its first home game since a 2-1 win over No. 18 Drexel back on Sept. 9, Stanford won for the second straight game and seventh time in its last eight games overall.
UC Davis entered the game with momentum, riding its second three-game winning streak of the year while coming off a 3-1 upset of California five days ago.
Any chance UC Davis had of pulling another upset was immediately squashed by Stanford, which built a commanding 4-0 halftime advantage thanks to a 13-0 shot edge.
Dru opened the scoring at the 10:33 mark, converting on a textbook penalty corner with assists from Elise Ogle and Maddie Secco.
Four minutes later, Herold found the cage unassisted for a 2-0 lead when she collected a pass in the center of the circle, dribbled past a defender and fired a rocket past UC Davis keeper Conley Craven.
— Palo Alto Online Sports Are you receiving Express, our free daily e-mail edition? See a sample and sign-up for Express.
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