Stanford Takes Down Texas, Win Record Seventh National Championship
Stanford Volleyball Captures Seventh National Title (@Pac12/Twitter)
COLUMBUS, Ohio – Stanford head coach, John Dunning knew he had the makings of a great team, but did not expect this kind of year from his young squad. Sixth seeded Stanford completed a championship run that included wins over #3 Wisconsin, #2 Minnesota and a four set victory over #4 Texas in the National Championship.
“You know, it’s overwhelming,” coach John Dunning said. “You put so much into this, and this is just a group that’s just fun to be with. And I love being around them.”
The Cardinal was the youngest team to ever play in the NCAA Volleyball Final Four but was under the veteran leadership of Inky Ajanaku. The redshirt-senior helped lead Stanford to their first national title since 2004 and its record seventh volleyball championship in program history.
Ajanaku, who missed all of last season due to a right knee injury, had 16 kills and was named the Tournaments Most Outstanding Player. The Cardinal, with four freshman starters, got some help from their young players as freshman Kathryn Plummer added 18 kills and Stanford hit .277 on the match to get past the Longhorns.
"Stanford is such a great program and we had so many great people come through the program, and they didn't have this moment. For us to have that moment, it's so, so humbling." Said Ajanaku after the win.
Stanford Highlights (Pac12/YouTube)
Stanford began the season 10-5 overall before Dunning moved senior Kelsey Humphreys to defensive specialist and handed the setting duties to a freshman. From there on The Cardinal won 16 of the last 17 and 10 in a row to finish the season with a national title.
Stanford's defense came to play, earning 12 blocks on the match and holding a great Texas offense to just a .217 hit percentage. Morgan Hentz made multiple highlight worthy digs to keep rallies going and to steal points for the Cardinal.
After going up 2-0 after the first two sets, Stanford was just one set away from claiming the national championship. Texas would go quietly taking the third set 25-18.
Stanford jumped out to a quick 6-0 lead in the fourth set forcing Texas to use a timeout. Texas continued to battle and closed in on Stanford multiple times, cutting the deficit to 20-16 in the fourth. At 24-21, championship point for Stanford, Plummer ripped a powerful shot through the Longhorns block to secure Stanford's seventh national championship.
