[joemontes]

Kalissa Greene is no longer listed on gostanford. ?

Thanks for pointing out she's no longer on the roster.  It doesn't come as a surprise to me.  Next year Kelly Belardi, a very  good setter, joins the team.  The chances of Greene getting any playing time as a setter at Stanford is about nil.  I'm going by memory (never a good idea).  She might be the only healthy player who hasn't gotten on the court this season.  If she has, it would have been only for a couple of rallys.  

Sometimes WVB players realize that putting all the time into practice, lifting weights, traveling and never getting on the court is not what they want.  I don't know her story but it wouldn't surprise me if she decided to focus on academics.

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https://www.ncaa.com/rankings/volleyball...eyball-rpi

Stanford went from #16 to #26 in the NCAA rpi rankings. 

At this point Stanford probably can't lose more than one match through the balance of the season to have any chance of getting back into the top 16 seeds.  Very likely the first round of the NCAA tournament Stanford starts on the road.

UCLA and Utah are the only two PAC-12 teams in the top twenty RPI.  Stanford doesn't play UCLA again.  I don't see any stepping stone back to being a top 16 seed.

It's funny, but I just happened to watch the youtube video of the 2004 national championship match where senior Oganna NNAMANI, considered by many as arguably the greatest Cardinal hitter of all time, led Stanford to their 6th national crown.  The announcers mentioned that the Cardinal struggled through the start of the 2nd half PAC 10 play. And my research tells me that

-  they lost to St Mary's twice and to Penn State to finish their relatively easy OOC slate (definitely much easier than the brutal OOC schedule played by the current Stanford team) at 11-3;
-  then lost to USC, Washington and Cal to sport a 7-3 PAC 10 record through the start of the 2nd half of PAC 10 play;  

Then, all of a sudden:

-  they swept through the last 8 matches of PAC 10 play;
-  had to play at Florida during the NCAA tournament preliminary rounds where they beat Jacksonville (1st round) and host Florida (2nd round); 
-  then played at Wisconsin during the NCAA regionals where they beat Texas (R16) and host Wisconsin (Elite 8) to reach the Final 4;
-  then beat Washington in the national semifinals before dominating Minnesota in the national champoinships.


Well, I thought, maybe the current Stanford team can duplicate that feat.  Wishful thinking but, of course, they don't have a superwoman like Oganna NNAMANI, although I feel that the combined trio of BAIRD, KIPP and FRANCIS can collectively provide the firepower that NNAMANI unleashed, and boy, did Oganna unleash thunderous KABOOMs which made my jaw drop often, hahaha!

And speaking of NNAMANI KABOOMs, I also watched another youtube video when this was in utter display toward the end of the 1st set of Stanford's 2001 national semifinal match vs. Nebraska when, with Nebraska owning 4 set points at 29-25, then-freshman NNAMANI unleashed three (3) KABOOMs as Stanford rattled off 6 straight points to win that 1st set in dramatic fashion. WOW!

[joemontes]

Kalissa Greene is no longer listed on gostanford. ?

Thanks for pointing out she's no longer on the roster.  It doesn't come as a surprise to me.  Next year Kelly Belardi, a very  good setter, joins the team.  The chances of Greene getting any playing time as a setter at Stanford is about nil.  I'm going by memory (never a good idea).  She might be the only healthy player who hasn't gotten on the court this season.  If she has, it would have been only for a couple of rallys.  

Sometimes WVB players realize that putting all the time into practice, lifting weights, traveling and never getting on the court is not what they want.  I don't know her story but it wouldn't surprise me if she decided to focus on academics.

---

https://www.ncaa.com/rankings/volleyball...eyball-rpi

Stanford went from #16 to #26 in the NCAA rpi rankings. 

At this point Stanford probably can't lose more than one match through the balance of the season to have any chance of getting back into the top 16 seeds.  Very likely the first round of the NCAA tournament Stanford starts on the road.

UCLA and Utah are the only two PAC-12 teams in the top twenty RPI.  Stanford doesn't play UCLA again.  I don't see any stepping stone back to being a top 16 seed.

It's funny, but I just happened to watch the youtube video of the 2004 national championship match where senior Oganna NNAMANI, considered by many as arguably the greatest Cardinal hitter of all time, led Stanford to their 6th national crown.  The announcers mentioned that the Cardinal struggled through the start of the 2nd half PAC 10 play. And my research tells me that

-  they lost to St Mary's twice and to Penn State to finish their relatively easy OOC slate (definitely much easier than the brutal OOC schedule played by the current Stanford team) at 11-3;
-  then lost to USC, Washington and Cal to sport a 7-3 PAC 10 record through the start of the 2nd half of PAC 10 play;  

Then, all of a sudden:

-  they swept through the last 8 matches of PAC 10 play;
-  had to play at Florida during the NCAA tournament preliminary rounds where they beat Jacksonville (1st round) and host Florida (2nd round); 
-  then played at Wisconsin during the NCAA regionals where they beat Texas (R16) and host Wisconsin (Elite 8) to reach the Final 4;
-  then beat Washington in the national semifinals before dominating Minnesota in the national champoinships.


Well, I thought, maybe the current Stanford team can duplicate that feat.  Wishful thinking but, of course, they don't have a superwoman like Oganna NNAMANI, although I feel that the combined trio of BAIRD, KIPP and FRANCIS can collectively provide the firepower that NNAMANI unleashed, and boy, did Oganna unleash thunderous KABOOMs which made my jaw drop often, hahaha!

And speaking of NNAMANI KABOOMs, I also watched another youtube video when this was in utter display toward the end of the 1st set of Stanford's 2001 national semifinal match vs. Nebraska when, with Nebraska owning 4 set points at 29-25, then-freshman NNAMANI unleashed three (3) KABOOMs as Stanford rattled off 6 straight points to win that 1st set in dramatic fashion. WOW!