[CompSci87]

#2 Stanford WVB rolled #16 Oregon today, 25-14, 25-18, 25-14. Stanford is undefeated in conference and just looks better and better every week. They could repeat as national champions even with the loss of last year's superstar Inky Ajanaku to graduation and a new head coach.

Wednesday evening they'll play at Washington, which should be a good test.

[CompSci87]

#2 Stanford WVB rolled #16 Oregon today, 25-14, 25-18, 25-14. Stanford is undefeated in conference and just looks better and better every week. They could repeat as national champions even with the loss of last year's superstar Inky Ajanaku to graduation and a new head coach.

Wednesday evening they'll play at Washington, which should be a good test.

[Hurlburt88]

I watched just a bit . . . fun team! 

[Hurlburt88]

I watched just a bit . . . fun team! 

[M T]

Frankly, based upon just watching our team, I was quite surprised that we were ranked so low as #4 by the NCAA and had a #7 RPI.  All of the top seven have 1 to 4 losses.  3 Big Ten, 2 SEC, 1 PAC-12.  (8&9 are also PAC-12).

Early season tournament locations skew the ratio of home & away games for teams that host them.  The RPI top 5 teams all have at least 3 more home games than away.  Stanford has 3 fewer home games than away.

Here is the RPI top 7  home-away-neutral games so far
Penn St  11-8-5 (h. loss to Neb 0-3)
Minn  11-8-6  (h. loss to Mich State 0-3; a. loss to Neb 0-3)
Florida 12-7-2  (h loss to Kentucky 1-3)
Kentucky 12-8-2  (n. loss to Creighton 0-3, a. loss to Kansas 0-3, h. loss to Florida 0-3)
Nebraska 12-9-3 (n. loss to Oregon 1-3, a. loss to Florida 2-3, h. loss to N.Iowa 1-3, a. loss to Wisconsin 1-3)
Texas 8-10-3  (a. loss to Florida 1-3, h. loss to Minn 1-3)
Stanford 8-11-4 (n. loss to Penn St 1-3, n. loss to Penn St 2-3)
Only Nebraska and Stanford have no losses at home.  Penn State, Florida, Stanford have lost no away games.

Stanford has had good blocking & heavy hitting & good setting in our recent history, and this year we've got a lot of talent.  It seems the new coach has been coaching serves as they've improved during the year.  The team is formidable and I have to believe they've got a good chance to win it all.

[M T]

Frankly, based upon just watching our team, I was quite surprised that we were ranked so low as #4 by the NCAA and had a #7 RPI.  All of the top seven have 1 to 4 losses.  3 Big Ten, 2 SEC, 1 PAC-12.  (8&9 are also PAC-12).

Early season tournament locations skew the ratio of home & away games for teams that host them.  The RPI top 5 teams all have at least 3 more home games than away.  Stanford has 3 fewer home games than away.

Here is the RPI top 7  home-away-neutral games so far
Penn St  11-8-5 (h. loss to Neb 0-3)
Minn  11-8-6  (h. loss to Mich State 0-3; a. loss to Neb 0-3)
Florida 12-7-2  (h loss to Kentucky 1-3)
Kentucky 12-8-2  (n. loss to Creighton 0-3, a. loss to Kansas 0-3, h. loss to Florida 0-3)
Nebraska 12-9-3 (n. loss to Oregon 1-3, a. loss to Florida 2-3, h. loss to N.Iowa 1-3, a. loss to Wisconsin 1-3)
Texas 8-10-3  (a. loss to Florida 1-3, h. loss to Minn 1-3)
Stanford 8-11-4 (n. loss to Penn St 1-3, n. loss to Penn St 2-3)
Only Nebraska and Stanford have no losses at home.  Penn State, Florida, Stanford have lost no away games.

Stanford has had good blocking & heavy hitting & good setting in our recent history, and this year we've got a lot of talent.  It seems the new coach has been coaching serves as they've improved during the year.  The team is formidable and I have to believe they've got a good chance to win it all.

[Spiny_Norman]

Still 3 more weeks left in the season. NCAA tournament bracket announced Nov 26.

[Spiny_Norman]

Still 3 more weeks left in the season. NCAA tournament bracket announced Nov 26.

[BostonCard]

Lutz is the offensive player of the week...

https://twitter.com/pac12/status/927648867507736577

BC

[BostonCard]

Lutz is the offensive player of the week...

https://twitter.com/pac12/status/927648867507736577

BC

[BobK]

We are ranked # 2 and our RPI remains at 7.    However when the NCAA released its pre seeding list we were top 4. 

[BobK]

We are ranked # 2 and our RPI remains at 7.    However when the NCAA released its pre seeding list we were top 4. 

[81alum]

I did not expect us to be doing so well after losing our coach, Hodson, and Inky.  What a nice surprise! 

[81alum]

I did not expect us to be doing so well after losing our coach, Hodson, and Inky.  What a nice surprise! 

[BobK]

Hodson played hurt and just a few games last year.  Our national championship year.

Serving is certainly better and we lead the PAC 12 however many errors until this weekend.  A different philosophy with Hambly yes
But now coaching serving is a sulky statement 😀

[BobK]

Hodson played hurt and just a few games last year.  Our national championship year.

Serving is certainly better and we lead the PAC 12 however many errors until this weekend.  A different philosophy with Hambly yes
But now coaching serving is a sulky statement 😀

[oldalum]

I am I volleyball newbie, but I have got to believe that serving is a skill that can be improved with practice. It's the only hit in volleyball that is completely under the control of the hitter. I don't see why it should be any different from tennis. Serena Williams is by far the best server among female pros, and I don't think it's all talent. I once watched her practicing serving at Bank of the West, on one of the back courts. After a while I got bored and went over to watch the action on the stadium court. I happened to walk by an hour later and she was still out there serving. Incredible dedication and effort. Bottom line: Our WVB serving is clearly better (more aggressive and producing points on serve) this year and I would expect it to continue to improve through the remainder of the season.

[oldalum]

I am I volleyball newbie, but I have got to believe that serving is a skill that can be improved with practice. It's the only hit in volleyball that is completely under the control of the hitter. I don't see why it should be any different from tennis. Serena Williams is by far the best server among female pros, and I don't think it's all talent. I once watched her practicing serving at Bank of the West, on one of the back courts. After a while I got bored and went over to watch the action on the stadium court. I happened to walk by an hour later and she was still out there serving. Incredible dedication and effort. Bottom line: Our WVB serving is clearly better (more aggressive and producing points on serve) this year and I would expect it to continue to improve through the remainder of the season.

[BigEasyCard]

Cardinal in a real dogfight tonight vs. Washington.  Down two sets to one and trailing 16-20 in fourth.

http://stats.statbroadcast.com/broadcast/?id=180286

Sure hope they can rally.

Geaux Cardinal!

[BigEasyCard]

Cardinal in a real dogfight tonight vs. Washington.  Down two sets to one and trailing 16-20 in fourth.

http://stats.statbroadcast.com/broadcast/?id=180286

Sure hope they can rally.

Geaux Cardinal!

[Canalejas]

It was a tough Wednesday all around for the Card.  Men's golf couldn't close a one stroke deficit against USC.  Field hockey exited in the first round of the NCAA tournament.  And volleyball drops a conference match for the first time.

[Canalejas]

It was a tough Wednesday all around for the Card.  Men's golf couldn't close a one stroke deficit against USC.  Field hockey exited in the first round of the NCAA tournament.  And volleyball drops a conference match for the first time.

[mbdude]

4 set loss. 14 service errors, many serve receive errors

[mbdude]

4 set loss. 14 service errors, many serve receive errors

[bbm233]

It was really frustrating to see the poor serving (and receiving) against UW. Plummer was struggling so much on receiving that at times they literally put the libero in front of her when she was in the back row. UW always served to her, which shows that you can be precise. There was a point in the third set when half of UW's 12 points were from our service errors. You can't build a lead if you can't hit a serve in the court.

Re: men's golf. Tip of the cap to USC...all five of the Cardinal went under par in the final round. Same issue as last year - the players are consistently good, but rarely does anybody go super low (nor does anybody blow up). Three seniors and two juniors...

[bbm233]

It was really frustrating to see the poor serving (and receiving) against UW. Plummer was struggling so much on receiving that at times they literally put the libero in front of her when she was in the back row. UW always served to her, which shows that you can be precise. There was a point in the third set when half of UW's 12 points were from our service errors. You can't build a lead if you can't hit a serve in the court.

Re: men's golf. Tip of the cap to USC...all five of the Cardinal went under par in the final round. Same issue as last year - the players are consistently good, but rarely does anybody go super low (nor does anybody blow up). Three seniors and two juniors...

[76lsjumb]

Strange match, especially given that our win last Sunday over Oregon may have been one of the best matches we have played all season. 

Of course, as Don Shaw noted, we played on Sunday, had an NCAA-mandated day off on Monday, got one day of practice on Tuesday and had to play the pre-season conference favorite [finally at more or less full strength] at their place on Wednesday [after only beating them 3-2 earlier in the season at Stanford].  Not exactly a cake walk against a crummy opponent...

Aside from the service errors, it was tough to watch Tami get shut down so completely; she's been money in the bank all season on that quick set in the middle.

And, in Game 4, when it was clear there was no touch but the challenge was rejected, who knows whether serving at 17-19 rather than receiving serve at 16-20 might have gotten things turned around.

This is a resilient team.  they'll be fine [...I hope].

[76lsjumb]

Strange match, especially given that our win last Sunday over Oregon may have been one of the best matches we have played all season. 

Of course, as Don Shaw noted, we played on Sunday, had an NCAA-mandated day off on Monday, got one day of practice on Tuesday and had to play the pre-season conference favorite [finally at more or less full strength] at their place on Wednesday [after only beating them 3-2 earlier in the season at Stanford].  Not exactly a cake walk against a crummy opponent...

Aside from the service errors, it was tough to watch Tami get shut down so completely; she's been money in the bank all season on that quick set in the middle.

And, in Game 4, when it was clear there was no touch but the challenge was rejected, who knows whether serving at 17-19 rather than receiving serve at 16-20 might have gotten things turned around.

This is a resilient team.  they'll be fine [...I hope].