Star-studded Stanford sweeps Cal Poly volleyball in second round of NCAA Tourney

The Cal Poly women’s volleyball team faced its toughest test of the season when it played nationally ranked No. 3 Stanford in the second round of the NCAA Tournament on Saturday night.

But no reverse sweep was to be had against star-studded Stanford (25-4), which swept Cal Poly 25-13, 25-16, 25-17 to advance to the Sweet 16.

Maia Dvoracek rebounded in the second-round match with 15 kills and seven digs to lead the Mustangs. Madilyn Mercer added nine kills and Meredith Phillips had five.

Avalon DeNecochea had 26 assists and nine digs.

The Cardinal were the highest seeded team that Cal Poly (21-9) had played this season and entered the match on a 12-game winning streak.

The Mustangs had played Pittsburgh, now ranked sixth and Kentucky, now ranked ninth, earlier in the season, but neither of those teams had the firepower of Stanford.

Stanford, looking to repeat as national champion, was one of the top offenses in the country throughout the regular season, with a hitting percentage of .289 — sixth in the nation.

The team garnered four selections to the All-PAC 12 team, including opposite hitter Audriana Fitzmorris, middle blocker Madeleine Gates, libero Morgan Hentz and setter Jenna Gray.

They also had an All-Freshman selection in outside hitter Kendall Kipp.

Anchoring on offense was Gray, the PAC-12 Setter of the Year and active NCAA leader in assists, and Hentz on defense, who was PAC-12 Libero of the Year.

But it was another player’s contributions that may be the most important to the Cardinal.

While Torrey Van Winden had a triumphant return to court in the Mustang’s thrilling reverse sweep of Georgia on Friday night after being sidelined the entirety of the regular season, Stanford has a similar story in outside hitter Kathryn Plummer.

The senior missed 10 games this season with an undisclosed injury and returned to the lineup just a month ago. Plummer had 17 kills in Stanford’s sweep of Denver on Friday night.

The two-time AVCA Player of the Year continued where she left off, with 17 kills on .371 hitting with 10 digs against Cal Poly.

Gray had 32 assists and Hentz had 14 digs.

Cal Poly played its best volleyball in the third set while Stanford hit just .225 in the final frame, well below its average.

The loss ends the third straight 20-win season for the Mustangs, and their third straight NCAA Tournament appearance. Last season, Cal Poly fell in the first round to San Diego 3-1. The previous year, the Mustangs advanced to the second round before falling to UCLA in four sets.

UCSB also fell in the second round after taking No. 2 Texas to five sets, but Hawaii swept San Diego 3-0 in its second-round match.

Cal Poly’s future is bright. All three players selected this year to the All-Big West first team will return in Dvoracek, DeNecochea and Meredith Phillips. Mercer also received an honorable mention.

The Mustangs carry a 32-match home winning streak into next season.

Five seniors will be lost to graduation, including Nikki Jackson, Nadia Retoff, Mika Dickson, Van Winden and McRoskey.

This story was originally published December 7, 2019 at 8:03 PM with the headline "Star-studded Stanford sweeps Cal Poly volleyball in second round of NCAA Tourney."