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When it comes to women's volleyball and the Pac-12 Conference, there's no such thing as a sure thing. Second-ranked Stanford, undefeated in conference play, has been put to the test the past two weekends and there's another one scheduled for Wednesday night when Arizona comes to town for a 7 p.m. first serve to be televised on the Pac-12 Networks.

The Cardinal (10-0, 18-2) need only to look at Sunday's five-set victory over host Washington State to remind itself of the pitfalls of the Pac-12. The Cougars are winless in conference play and yet held a lead in the clinching fifth set before the Cardinal rallied to win.

Stanford, winners of 16 straight, has played three consecutive five-set matches and four in its last six matches. The Cardinal has played teams ranked in the top seven in three of its last six matches.

The Cardinal is playing well enough to stay a match ahead of Oregon in the Pac-12 standings, but that lead is vulnerable for a number of reasons. The primary reason is that the top five teams in the conference are also ranked among the top seven teams in the nation.

Of the other seven teams in the conference, only two have overall losing records and both Utah (11-12) and Washington State (10-12) are close.

Arizona (4-6, 12-9) comes to Stanford having won three of its last four matches. The Wildcats have taken sets from the Huskies, Stanford, California and No. 23 Pepperdine.

Stanford plays up to six freshmen, many of them starters. This is no ordinary freshmen class, rated the top recruiting class in the nation, but they are are still going up against collegiate All-Americans and future Olympians almost every time they step on the court, and coaches who have won NCAA titles and coached Olympians.

The Cardinal has won 13 straight from the Wildcats, and Stanford coach John Dunning would be the first to say that doesn't mean a thing when the match gets underway.

Stanford hosts Arizona State on Friday at 7 p.m. and then travels to Oregon State and Oregon next weekend.

As a team, Stanford ranks among the top five in the conference in digs (1st), kills (5th), assists (5th), blocks (3rd) and hitting percentage (4th).

Individually, Carly Wopat is second in blocks (1.54) and hitting percentage (.386). Freshman Inky Ajanaku is fourth in hitting percentage (.376) and ranks 10th in blocks (1.23), while freshman Madi Bugg is ninth in assists (8.41). Sophomore libero Kyle Gilbert ranks sixth in digs (3.99).

— Palo Alto Online Sports

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