[qwerty49]

At the beginning, ESPN highlighted the liberos of each team and promised to give a "dig of the night" (which I don't believe they delivered on).  
I found it odd that they chose that statistic to look at.   Indeed, it is the worst of the major stats for the two teams, when looked at individually or as a team.

Digs may not be one of our better stats, and I can't speak to what the broadcasters did or did not include in terms of stats (I wasn't really paying much attention to the broadcasters, but more the match itself last night), but Morgan Hentz is a pretty incredible libero. The amount of space that she can cover, freeing up additional players to cover the other parts of the court/set up the block, is in my opinion, one of the keys to why our defense is so good and dominant when it gets rolling.

There is no doubt that Morgan Hentz is a great player,  but the stats don't show it.  (Before posting, I looked at digs/opponent's kill attempts, and the numbers didn't stand out.   Maybe I missed something and should look again.)

In a post-game press conference, Penn State coach  Russ Rose said that if he were to pick an MVP for Stanford, it would be Hentz.  She is "the battery that keeps [Stanford] playing at a high level all the time." 

Earlier in the season, in an interview before the Colorado@Stanford game, Hambly said that he believes she's the best libero in college that he's ever seen.  He said he didn't know why a libero can't win player of the year.  "She's the best in her position,  and by a lot."

Hentz is all-universe.  Period.  As good as Gray and our hitters are, watching Hentz is easily the highlight of any Stanford match.

[qwerty49]

At the beginning, ESPN highlighted the liberos of each team and promised to give a "dig of the night" (which I don't believe they delivered on).  
I found it odd that they chose that statistic to look at.   Indeed, it is the worst of the major stats for the two teams, when looked at individually or as a team.

Digs may not be one of our better stats, and I can't speak to what the broadcasters did or did not include in terms of stats (I wasn't really paying much attention to the broadcasters, but more the match itself last night), but Morgan Hentz is a pretty incredible libero. The amount of space that she can cover, freeing up additional players to cover the other parts of the court/set up the block, is in my opinion, one of the keys to why our defense is so good and dominant when it gets rolling.

There is no doubt that Morgan Hentz is a great player,  but the stats don't show it.  (Before posting, I looked at digs/opponent's kill attempts, and the numbers didn't stand out.   Maybe I missed something and should look again.)

In a post-game press conference, Penn State coach  Russ Rose said that if he were to pick an MVP for Stanford, it would be Hentz.  She is "the battery that keeps [Stanford] playing at a high level all the time." 

Earlier in the season, in an interview before the Colorado@Stanford game, Hambly said that he believes she's the best libero in college that he's ever seen.  He said he didn't know why a libero can't win player of the year.  "She's the best in her position,  and by a lot."

Hentz is all-universe.  Period.  As good as Gray and our hitters are, watching Hentz is easily the highlight of any Stanford match.