Publication Date: Wednesday, October 13, 2004
Nnamani's historic effort moves Stanford volleyball into second place
Nnamani's historic effort moves Stanford volleyball into second place
(October 13, 2004) by Rick Eymer
Ogonna Nnamani, on her 21st kill of the night in Stanford's 30-24, 24-30, 30-25, 30-28 victory over host UCLA on Saturday night, took over the top spot in career kills, replacing fellow Olympian Logan Tom.
Nnamani, who finished with a career-high 36 kills - the third-best single-game performance ever in Stanford history - probably cared more that the Cardinal women's volleyball team moved into sole possession of second place in the Pac-10 following the victory, a game back of undefeated and top-ranked Washington.
The 37.5 points scored by Nnamani were the most recorded in any match by a Pac-10 player this season.
Stanford (4-1, 11-4) fell to No. 2 USC on Friday, 30-16, 30-20, 27-30, 30-26, but moved ahead of the Trojans the next night when California upset USC.
Nnamani, third on the Pac-10 all-time kills list, now has 1,955 kills. Tom, who missed half a season in 2000 when she played with the U.S. Olympic team in Sydney, had 1,939 kills in her career at Stanford.
Nnamani, 300 kills behind Pac-10 career leader Kristee Porter of UCLA, was named the Pac-10 Player of the Week for her efforts, her second such honor this season and the fourth of her career.
The Bruins took the lead at 23-22 in game four, but the Cardinal came back to lead at 25-24 on a Bruin hitting error, and extended the lead to 27-24 on a block by Jennifer Hucke and Franci Girard. Bryn Kehoe put the Cardinal at match point at 29-27, and Nnamani, who hit at a .385 clip, recorded her 36th kill of the match to end the game, 30-28.
Nnamani also added 14 digs. Sophomore Kristin Richards had 15 kills and a match-high 21 digs, while Girard had a career-best 10 blocks. Courtney Schultz had 12 digs and Hucke added 11. Kehoe had 57 assists and 12 digs.
The Cardinal were scheduled to travel to Pacific on Tuesday before hosting Oregon State on Friday and Oregon on Saturday, both at 7 p.m.
Against USC, Nnamani had a match-high 24 kills. Richards had a double-double with 17 kills and 16 digs and Hucke also recorded double-double with 10 kills and 13 digs. Lizzie Suiter led the team with five blocks.
Men's soccer
Stanford made a dent in the Pac-10 standings on the road over the weekend, beating Oregon State, 2-1, on Friday and playing Washington to a 2-2 draw on Sunday.
The Cardinal (1-0-2, 6-1-4) can go a long way in cementing one of the top spots this weekend when No. 8 UCLA visits Maloney Field for a high noon showdown.
Stanford, which meets visiting UC Davis in a nonconference match on Friday night at 5 p.m., is winless (0-7-1) in its last eight meetings with the Bruins, and are 3-23-2 against them overall. The last Cardinal victory came on Oct. 8, 2000.
UCLA (1-1-0, 5-2-2) hasn't played since losing to Washington (2-0-1, 9-3-2) on Oct. 3. The Huskies ended UCLA's 13-match conference winning streak.
The Cardinal currently reside in second place behind Washington in the Pac-10. The Bruins are in fourth, a point behind California (1-1-1, 8-1-2). Oregon State (0-3, 5-7-1) is the only conference school with a losing record.
The Pac-10 announced that San Diego State will join the conference as an associate member for men's soccer beginning next fall. The Aztecs become the conference's sixth team, replacing Fresno State, which dropped out following last season.
Against Washington, the Cardinal scored twice within two minutes of each other in the second half to take a 2-1 lead. Senior Todd Leber and Junior Cooper McKee scored for Stanford.
Leber collected a rebound from a Darren Fernandez shot and scored from close range McKee concluded a long run into the Husky box with a strike from 12 yards out.
Fernandez scored both goals in the win over Oregon State. He leads the conference with seven goals.
Fernandez's first goal came off a corner kick by Dan Shapiro. He scored the game-winner with under four minutes remaining to play.
Women's soccer
With most of the Pac-10 schedule yet to be played, Stanford figures to play a few more matches like its 1-1 double overtime tie with host California on Sunday.
That type of match is common in the conference, which features seven of the 10 teams with winning records, and five ranked among the top 13 by Soccer America.
It won't be any different this weekend when No. 3 Arizona comes to town on Friday night at 7:30 p.m. with its best team in school history. The Wildcats have won 11 of 13 matches this year and are in a three-way tie for the conference lead with UCLA and USC, all with 2-0 marks.
Stanford (0-0-1, 8-2-2) has not lost to Arizona in nine career meetings.
Arizona State (1-0-1, 5-6-1) visits on Sunday at 2:30 p.m.
Against Cal, all the scoring occurred in the final nine minutes of regulation. Junior Leah Tapscott gave the Cardinal a 1-0 lead after taking a free kick from senior Amy Grady.
The Bears had a corner kick with less than three minutes left in regulation and Cal coach Kevin Boyd took a chance by bringing goalie Ashley Sulprizio, at 6-foot-1 the tallest player on the field, into the box.
"We got a corner and needed a goal," Boyd said. "I was going to stick our six-foot-one girl in the box and see what happens. Every time we play Stanford it seems like the game goes into overtime."
What happened was Sulprizio headed the ball into the net to send the match into overtime. It was her first career goal.
"It was so random, " she said. "I've always wanted to score. If I was going to pick a game, this would be it."
Cardinal goalkeeper Nicole Barnhart and Sulprizio each recorded seven saves.
Men's tennis
Senior Sam Warburg reached the singles finals of the Icy Hot/ITA All-American Championships in Chattanooga before losing to Mississippi's Catalin Gard, 7-5, 2-6, 6-3, on Sunday.
Warburg became the first Cardinal to advance to the finals of the tournament since K.J. Hippensteel took home the title in 2001.
The match also marked the first time that a No. 1 seed and a No. 2 seed have met in the finals since 1991.
Warburg advanced to the finals with a 6-1, 6-3 victory over Harvard's Jonathan Chu, 6-1, 6-3 in the quarterfinals and a 7-6, 6-1 win over Louisiana State's Ken Skupski in the semifinals, both on Saturday.
Women's tennis
Senior Erin Burdette and sophomore Theresa Logar were both knocked out of the main draw at the Riviera/ITA All-American Championships in the second round at the Riviera Tennis Club.
Burdette lost a 6-4, 6-2 match to No. 1 Cristelle Grier of Northwestern, while Logar dropped a 6-3, 6-2 match to TCU's Story Tweedie-Yates, a former Stanford player.
Burdette and Logar both won their opening matches. Burdette beat UCLA's Riza Zalameda, 7-6(7), 5-7, 7-6(4), while Logar defeated Duke's Jackie Carleton, 6-4, 6-4.
Field hockey
Boston College edged Stanford, 2-1, on Sunday in a nonconference match played in Berkeley.
Liz Robinson gave the Cardinal (6-9) the early lead with an unassisted goal.
Goalkeeper Ana Kralovec had 10 saves, one shy of her career-high, as the Cardinal lost by a goal for the seventh time, and the fourth in succession.
Stanford hosts Pacific in its final regular season home game on Saturday, Oct. 23 at 1 p.m.
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