SALT LAKE CITY -- Sixth-ranked Stanford registered its 15th sweep of the season with a 25-17, 25-15, 25-17 win at Utah on Sunday, at the Huntsman Center. The win moved the Cardinal to 18-5 overall and 11-3 in the Pac 12, while the Utes fell to 17-9 overall and 6-8 in the conference.
Sophomore middle blocker Inky Ajanaku led the Cardinal with nine kills on 14 attempts with no errors to hit .643. Sophomore outside hitter Jordan Burgess also registered nine kills to go with eight digs, including the 600th of her career, and two blocks. Senior Carly Wopat finished with eight kills and a team-high six blocks, while senior Rachel Williams added eight kills and six digs.
Sophomore setter Madi Bugg controlled the offense with 33 assists. Bugg also recorded eight digs, three kills and three blocks. Junior libero Kyle Gilbert finished with a team-best 12 digs. Sophomore outside hitter Brittany Howard finished with six kills and 10 digs. Howard notched her 500th career kill in the opening set. Overall, Stanford finished with nine blocks, while Utah posted seven.
LOS ANGELES -- Fourth-ranked USC (22-3, 12-2 Pac-12) made short work of Oregon State (9-16, 0-14) as the Women of Troy beat the Beavers in straight sets 25-21, 25-11, 25-12 at Galen Center on Sunday. It was the fourth consecutive victory for the Trojans and their 10th in a row against Oregon State. In fact, USC has now won 29 consecutive sets against the Beavers since 2008.
Oregon State dropped its 14th consecutive match, which ties for the second longest losing streak in program history and remained winless in conference matches, this season.
Senior middle blocker Alexis Olgard scored 11.0 points as she logged eight kills (0e, 14att) and hit .571 on the day. Olgard also had four blocks (two solo) and four digs. Freshman outside hitter Ebony Nwanebu led all players with 13.5 points and did her damage on the offensive end with 13 kills (1e, 23att) and a .522 hitting percentage.
USC also got eight kills from sophomore outside hitter Samantha Bricio (4e, 24att, .167) who also logged 11 digs and a pair of service aces to move into a sixth-place tie for single-season aces (63) in Pac-12 history with Stanford's Ashley Ivy (2002). Bricio also moved into an eighth-place tie for career aces at USC with Tracy Clark (1982-85). She now has 106 in her two seasons at Troy.
TUSCALOOSA, Ala. -- Missouri used a season-high 19.0 blocks to escape a scrappy Alabama team 3-1 (25- 22, 24-26, 25-20, 25-12), on Sunday afternoon at Foster Auditorium. Junior All-SEC middle blocker Whitney Little posted a season-high 10 blocks in the win and the outside hitting duo of Lisa Henning and Carly Kan combined for 26 kills in the win. Mizzou is now 29-0 overall and 13-0 in SEC play as the Tigers sit alone atop the league standings with a trip to No. 5 Florida (22-2, 11-1) looming next Friday.
The Tigers did a great job of slowing down Alabama freshman middle Krystal Rivers, who hit an uncharacteristic .176, her second-lowest clip of the season. Carly Kan, another of the top freshman in the conference, outshined Rivers on Sunday with 14 kills on .242 hitting with 11 digs and four blocks for her seventh of the season and second of the weekend. She added three service aces as well. Lisa Henning had 12 kills and 11 digs for her second double-double of the season. Emily Wilson added nine kills on .273 hitting and Little pitched in seven kills on .462 hitting to go along with her 10 blocks. Freshman Julia Towler came off the bench and gave Mizzou a huge boost with five kills on .833 hitting with four blocks. Senior setter Molly Kreklow spread 48 assists and pulled in eight digs while tallying eight blocks. Sarah Meister had 19 digs as well.