September 28, 2005

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Palo Alto Online

Women's volleyball keeps ranking intact

by Rick Eymer

Stanford is one of four teams currently undefeated after the first weekend of Pac-10 Conference volleyball action.

The third-ranked Cardinal (2-0, 13-1) will be a heavy favorite to remain unbeaten following its trip through Oregon this week, beginning with a stop in Corvallis on Thursday night to take on Oregon State.

Stanford opened its conference season with a 31-29, 30-27, 30-21 victory over visiting USC on Friday, and followed that with a 30-22, 31-29, 30-26 win over visiting UCLA on Saturday.

Oregon and Oregon State are the perennial doormats of the Pac-10. The Ducks have finished last or tied for last in each of the past 13 years. The Beavers have finished higher than seventh once (fifth in 2001) since their third-place finish in 1990.

Stanford has beaten Oregon 31 straight matches and has never lost in 38 matches to Oregon State.

Think Stanford has it easy? Think again. Oregon (0-2, 10-3) is on its way to perhaps its best season since the 1989 team finished 21-9. Oregon State (1-1, 5-3) is looking for its fourth winning season in the past six years.

Any time Stanford needs a reality check, it can just leaf through the Pac-10 standings. That's nationally-ranked UCLA and USC at the bottom of the heap and the Women of Troy own the only losing record of the bunch.

This is the same USC program which produced two national titles within the past three years, and was 89-7 during that span.

Until this past weekend, UCLA could always count on winning at least one match during its Bay Area trip. The Bruins have won at Stanford (six times in 20 matches) more often than any other Pac-10 team, and had won 19 straight at Cal before losing on Friday.

Stanford has the most talented freshmen class in the nation, with Foluke Akinradewo already a Player of the Week honoree and Cynthia Barboza a candidate every week.

Barboza, in fact, could have easily won the award this week after recording a career-high 26 kills and hitting .511 against USC and then getting 21 kills in the win over UCLA.

(It's hard to argue against Cal's Angie Pressey, who did win - and deserved - the honor after she had a combined 40 kills and 21 digs in wins over the Bruins and Women of Troy).

While Stanford starts three freshmen and uses four on a regular basis, Oregon has nine players with two or more years of experience and Oregon State has six such players.

Oregon (Jim Moore) and Oregon State (Taras Liskevych) also have first-year coaches who are used to winning. Moore has won a Division II national title; Liskevych is a three-time United States Olympic coach.

Stanford coach John Dunning knows all about Liskevych. Dunning replaced him as coach at Pacific in 1985.

The Cardinal take a 12-match winning streak into the weekend.

Barboza leads Stanford with 204 kills, followed by Akinradewo with 187 and junior Kristin Richards with 171. Akinradewo has a team-leading .399 hitting percentage.

Senior libero Courtney Schultz has a team-high 177 digs and sophomore setter Bryn Kehoe averages 14.39 assists per game.

Richards recorded 12 digs against the Bruins to reach the 1,000 mark for her career. She has 1,011. She went over 1,000 career kills earlier in the season.
Men's soccer

With junior Andrew Kartunen back in goal, Stanford recorded a pair of shutout victories in its own Stanford Nike Classic over the weekend.

The Cardinal (3-4-1) beat Army, 2-0, on Saturday night and followed that with a 1-0 win over Alabama-Birmingham on Sunday night.

Kartunen has nine career shutouts at Stanford.

The Cardinal open Pac-10 play at San Diego State on Friday at 4 p.m.

Marcus Ryan and Kyle Hency each scored in the second half against Army, while Hency and Evan Morgan each had an assist.

Galen Thompson scored in the 39th minute, getting an assist from Morgan and Bret Shimizu, against the Blazers.

California defeated Alabama-Birmingham, 3-1, on Saturday with Gunn grad Andrew Jacobsen scoring a goal in the second half. Menlo-Atherton grad Javier Hil also starts for the Bears.
Women's soccer

Stanford (4-3-1) defeated host Navy, 2-1, on Thursday and will host the Stanford Nike Invitational beginning Friday.

The Cardinal meets Santa Clara on Friday at 7:30 p.m., and will then meet Colorado College at 1:30 p.m. on Sunday.

Fifth-year senior Martha West gave Stanford a 1-0 edge in the 19th minute, and freshman Marisa Abegg padded the lead in the 60th minute when her ball hooked into the goal and caught the inside of the right post for her first collegiate goal.

Stanford outshot Navy 13-4 as sophomore goalie Erica Holland won in her collegiate starting debut.
Cross country

Amanda Trotter, Arianna Lambie and Russell Brown all won individual titles and Stanford won all four collegiate races on Saturday at the Stanford Invitational on the Stanford Golf Course.

The Stanford women dominated both collegiate races, placing all five scorers in the top 10 for the 4,000-meter course.

Trotter finished the course in 14:03, followed by Lauren Centrowitz in 14:17. Freshman Alicia Follmar placed fourth (14:32), followed by Lindsay Allen (14:35). Sophomore Shannon Bergstedt was ninth (14:46).

Stanford went 1-2 in the 6,000 meters, scoring 31 points and placing all five scorers in the top 12. Chico State took second place with 136 points.

Lambie won the race in 21:15, followed by Katy Trotter in 21:19. Lindsay Flacks placed fifth in 21:30.

In men's competition, Stanford placed all five scorers in the top 10 of the 4,000 meter course.

Brown won the race in 11:59, followed by Hakon DeVries in second (12:01). Lauren Jespersen placed third (12:24), while Jacob Evans finished in seventh (12:38). Junior Michael Garcia placed ninth (12:41).

Liberty's Josh McDougal ran the 8,000 meter course in a course record 23:24, followed by brother Jordan McDougal in second (23:46). Stanford's Garrett Heath ran an impressive 23:48 to grab third place. Brett Gotcher was fifth (23:52). Neftalem Araia finished sixth (23:56), followed by Forrest Tahdooahnippah in ninth (24:06).
Women's squash

Stanford Athletic Director Dr. Ted Leland announced that Women's Squash will become an "emerging varsity sport" for the 2005-06 season. Women's Squash will be added as a full varsity sport beginning in the Fall of 2006, making it the only varsity intercollegiate women's (or men's) squash program on the West Coast.

"With the addition of Mark Talbott as our Director of Squash and the generosity of anonymous donors, who have provided start up funds and a $1 million challenge/match to encourage others to endow the program, we are now in position to elevate women's squash to a varsity program," said Leland. "We are pleased that we can promote opportunities for female student-athletes without reducing opportunities for male student-athletes."

The Stanford Athletic Department now supports 35 intercollegiate varsity sports programs, 19 of which are female sports, 15 men's sports and one co-ed sport.
Field hockey

Missy Halliday and Caroline Hussey each scored and Stanford held off Pacific, 2-1, in a nonconference match on Sunday.

The win was the second in the last three games for the Cardinal overall and snapped a four-game losing skid against Pacific dating to September 27, 2003.

"This was a huge win in a rivalry that has intensified in the past few years," Stanford coach Lesley Irvine said. "It was nice to go to their home field and beat a really good team."

Halliday got the Cardinal on the scoreboard when she finished off a penalty corner at 18:53 as Aska Sturdevan was credited with an assist.

"We played a great first half with a lot of offense," Irvine said. "Caroline had another big goal and continues to have a huge on our team in her rookie season."

Stanford goalkeeper Sarah Scheller earned her first collegiate victory, recording three saves.

Stanford hosts Pacific in a key NorPac contest on Saturday at 1 p.m.

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