The 2016 Stanford WVB national championship season was very memorable in so many ways:
- re-ignited Stanford's supremacy in WVB after a frustrating 11-year drought, including a 3-year stretch (2006-2008) where they lost in the national championship match
- featured probably the tallest frontline in WVB history, with 6-8 LUTZ, 6'6 PLUMMER, 6'6 FITZMORRIS, 6'4 VANJAK, 6'3 AJANAKU and 6'3 HODSON
But there were two key events that changed the destiny of this team:
- sophomore Hayley HODSON, the # 1 overall recruit from the Class of 2015, was only able to play in their OOC schedule, then was sidelined for the rest of the season due to concussion; this paved the way for freshman PLUMMER to suddenly permamently move from OPP to OH1 in her young collegiate career
- Stanford initially used a 6-2 during their OOC schedule and the first 7 PAC 12 matches, with setters in senior Kelsey HUMPHREYS and freshman Jenna GRAY. Then, they completely abandoned this scheme and permanently moved to the 5-1 with GRAY as the setter, starting with their 8th PAC 12 match which was a home victory vs. ASU, after back-to-back home setbacks to unranked Utah and Arizona suddenly relegated Stanford to the middle of the PAC 12 standings with a 4-3 record and a 10-5 overall record (which also happens to be the current overall W-L record of this year's Stanford team, but with a slightly better 5-2 PAC 12 record) and dropped their national ranking to #14.
That ASU win was followed by a road loss at UCLA, bringing their PAC 12 record to 5-4 and 11-6 overall, and Stanford's national ranking plunged to #17. At this point, Stanford was in danger of not hosting the NCAA tournament 1st and 2nd round (which also happens to be the current concern for this year's 18th ranked Stanford team entering this week's home stand vs. the Mountain teams)
However, they won 10 of their remaining 11 PAC 12 matches to up their final PAC 12 record to 15-5 and 21-7 overall, which then gave them a #6 overall seed in the NCAA tournament and the right to host the 1st and 2nd rounds.
And the rest is history!
- re-ignited Stanford's supremacy in WVB after a frustrating 11-year drought, including a 3-year stretch (2006-2008) where they lost in the national championship match
- featured probably the tallest frontline in WVB history, with 6-8 LUTZ, 6'6 PLUMMER, 6'6 FITZMORRIS, 6'4 VANJAK, 6'3 AJANAKU and 6'3 HODSON
But there were two key events that changed the destiny of this team:
- sophomore Hayley HODSON, the # 1 overall recruit from the Class of 2015, was only able to play in their OOC schedule, then was sidelined for the rest of the season due to concussion; this paved the way for freshman PLUMMER to suddenly permamently move from OPP to OH1 in her young collegiate career
- Stanford initially used a 6-2 during their OOC schedule and the first 7 PAC 12 matches, with setters in senior Kelsey HUMPHREYS and freshman Jenna GRAY. Then, they completely abandoned this scheme and permanently moved to the 5-1 with GRAY as the setter, starting with their 8th PAC 12 match which was a home victory vs. ASU, after back-to-back home setbacks to unranked Utah and Arizona suddenly relegated Stanford to the middle of the PAC 12 standings with a 4-3 record and a 10-5 overall record (which also happens to be the current overall W-L record of this year's Stanford team, but with a slightly better 5-2 PAC 12 record) and dropped their national ranking to #14.
That ASU win was followed by a road loss at UCLA, bringing their PAC 12 record to 5-4 and 11-6 overall, and Stanford's national ranking plunged to #17. At this point, Stanford was in danger of not hosting the NCAA tournament 1st and 2nd round (which also happens to be the current concern for this year's 18th ranked Stanford team entering this week's home stand vs. the Mountain teams)
However, they won 10 of their remaining 11 PAC 12 matches to up their final PAC 12 record to 15-5 and 21-7 overall, which then gave them a #6 overall seed in the NCAA tournament and the right to host the 1st and 2nd rounds.
And the rest is history!