December 17, 2003

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Palo Alto Online

Stanford gets mark, and loss

by Rick Eymer

Stanford junior outside hitter Ogonna Nnamani set a single-season school record for kills but that was little consolation in the Cardinal's 30-25, 26-30, 30-19, 30-26 loss to Washington on Friday night in the third round of the NCAA tournament at The Pyramid in Long Beach.

It was Stanford's earliest departure from post-season since 2000.

Stanford won't use it as an excuse, but the absences of senior middle blocker Sara McGee and senior setter Anna Robinson finally caught up to the Cardinal. McGee, an All-American last year, would have been a nice complement to Nnamani.

McGee was third on the team in kills last year, and first in hitting percentage. She also led the team in blocks and would have made a powerful combination with Jennifer Harvey on the defensive side of the net.

Robinson was Stanford's top setter last year, and was also an effective blocker. Her experience was also missed.

Stanford (25-7) did record another 20-plus win season, its 20th in the last 22 years and 21st overall.

Nnamani had 20 kills against the Huskies, who defeated Stanford twice in the same season for the first time ever. Nnamani finished the year with a school record 627, six more than Logan Tom recorded in 2001.

"Volleyball is a game of momentum," Nnamani said. "We stopped getting a lot of momentum swings."

It was the first loss to Washington that gave the Huskies confidence they could play with Stanford.

Washington coach Jim McLaughlin said that win convinced him the Huskies could become a dominating serving team.

"We've been working hard at that ever since, and that made a big difference in this match," McLaughlin said. "We got better as the night went and developed our composure throughout the match."

Stanford coach John Dunning agreed.

"Washington served a great match," he said. "That probably is the domino that started everything. They've improved since the last time we played."

Stanford opened game one with a 6-1 run, but was unable to maintain its momentum. Washington crept back into the game and used four straight points to forge a 16-14 lead.

The Huskies were able to extend their lead the rest of the way.

In game two, the Cardinal led 19-10 and held on for the win.

Washington took control of the third game from the start and never wavered.

Stanford took a 19-16 lead in the fourth game before the Huskies finally snuck ahead, 26-23. Washington reached match point at 29-24 on a tip by Sanja Tomasevic and won 30-26 on the third game point on a Cardinal service error.

Freshman Kristin Richards recorded her sixth consecutive double-double with 18 kills and 12 digs. Senior Sara Dukes added eight kills and five blocks. Junior Jennifer Hucke led the team with 13 digs.

"It was an exciting match," said McLaughlin. "I thought we played hard and our outside hitters were big time when they had to be big time. They put down some key hits for us."

Tomasevic led all players with 25 kills.

"Our coaches never let us worry that we were playing Stanford," Tomasevic said.

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