Six Pac-12 volleyball teams ranked as Stanford extends lead

SAN FRANCISCO - No. 5 STANFORD has won its last three matches to take a two-match lead in the Pac-12 volleyball standings, with five teams tied for second behind the Cardinal. Six teams are ranked this week in the AVCA Coaches poll while eight are rated in the top 50 of the NCAA’s RPI, tied for the most of any conference.

The NCAA Volleyball Selection Commitee revealed its top 10 over the weekend. If the season had ended Sunday, Nov. 3, the Cardinal would be the No. 4 seed and 12th-ranked WASHINGTON would be at No. 7.

Six Pac-12 matches will be televised on Pac-12 Networks with the action kicking off on Friday, Nov. 7 with the Bay Area teams traveling to ARIZONA and ARIZONA STATE. OREGON also hosts the Huskies for a rematch on Pac-12 Networks.

NATIONAL RANKINGS
• There are six teams ranked in the AVCA Coaches poll for the second-consecutive week and the seventh time this season. The Cardinal remain at No. 5 with WASHINGTON at No. 14. UTAH moved up a spot to No. 16, followed by CALIFORNIA at No. 20, UCLA at No. 12 and WASHINGTON STATE at No. 24.
• At least five teams have been ranked in the AVCA poll every week this season with 10 different schools earning at top-25 ranking at some point during the season.
• Stanford was the overwhelming No. 1 pick in the AVCA Preseason Coaches poll released on Aug. 13. The defending NCAA Champion garnered 62 of a possible 64 first-place votes. It was the second-straight year the Cardinal were No. 1 in the preseason and the 74th all-time No. 1 ranking for the program.
• Since 2003, the Pac-12 has had at least five teams in the preseason poll with the exception of 2014 and 2007 when four teams were ranked.
• NCAA RPI: The Pac-12 has eight teams in the top 50 RPI, tying for the most of any conference. Its 10 in the top 60 are the most for any league in the country. The Cardinal (#5), Washington (#7), UCLA (#14) and Utah (#22) all boast RPI in the top 25 (as of Nov. 4).

WHAT’S HAPPENING THIS WEEK
• Colorado got into the win column last weekend and looks to continue that momentum as it travels to L.A. to face No. 23 UCLA then USC on Nov. 9.
• Six matches will be televised on Pac-12 Networks, including a rematch of the Washington-Oregon match that went five sets in the first meeting between the teams on Oct. 13 in Seattle before the Huskies claimed the win.
• The lone top-15 matchup of the week is taking place in Los Angeles with the Bruins hosting Utah. In the first meeting of the season on Oct. 11, the Utes swept UCLA. The live stream can be watched on pac-12.com.

NCAA’S TOP 10 REVEAL
• The NCAA DI college volleyball committee revealed its top 10 on Sunday, Nov. 3. The reveal gives a first glance at potential teams competing for top seed positions in the upcoming 2019 Division I Women’s Volleyball Championship tournament. Despite playing without two-time national player of the year Kathryn Plummer, Stanford was tabbed No. 4 and Washington appeared at No. 7 with big wins over that Cardinal and twice versus Wisconsin.
• With still four weeks remaining in the regular season, the committee will continue deliberations until the NCAA Tournament selection show which is scheduled for Sunday, December 1 at 8:30 pm ET/5:30 p.m. PT on ESPNU.

WHERE THEY RANK
• Stanford and California rank in the top five in the country in two statistical categories. The Cardinal are the fourth-ranked team in the country in assists per set, led by senior setter Jenna Gray’s 11.51 assists per set which ranks fourth in the NCAA. The Cardinal also boast the fifth-best kills per set in the country at 14.52. Winning more overall and league matches than all of last season, California has the fifth-best hitting percentage in the nation at .294.
• Freshman middle blocker Magda Jehlárová of Washington State leads five from the Pac-12 that are ranked in the top 30 in the country in blocks per set. Her 1.53 bps is fifth-best in the country. Arizona’s Devyn Cross is the most efficient hitter in the Conference with her .431 hitting percentage ranking sixth in the country.
• The Conference also boasts three of the top 30 offensive producers in the nation with UCLA’s Mac May leading the way with a 5.24 points per set average, which is 12th, while averaging 4.67 kills per set, which is 15th. USC’s Khalia Lanier leads the Conference with 4.70 kps (11th) and is second with 5.17 pps (14th). Utah’s Dani Drews ranks 19th in both categories (4.49 kps, 5.03 pps) and Washington’s Kara Bajema is 29th (4.23 kps, 4.87 pps).
• As a Conference, the Pac-12 boasts the best hitting percentage of any league at .241. Collectively, the 12 teams also lead the nation in kills per set (13.17), assists per set (12.16), blocks per set (2.38), and second in points per set (15.98).

PAC-12 PLAYERS OF THE WEEK
• USC senior Khalia Lanier averaged 6.22 kills per set, 6.7 points per set and hit .296 last week en route to earning Pac-12 Player of the Week nods. She collected her 1,800th-career kill to rank in the top 25 all-time in Pac-12 history.
• Junior Kenzie Koerber had a pair of double-doubles to help Utah to a pair of five-set wins over Arizona and Arizona State.
• Washington State’s Magda Jehlárová helped the Cougs to a win over USC, completing the regular-season sweep, their first over the Trojans since 1986.

WHAT’S TRENDING
• Stanford has been without two-time National Player of the Year and two-time Pac-12 Player of the Year Kathryn Plummer since the loss to Washington on Sept. 29, 2019. Despite her absence, that Cardinal have gone 7-1 and currently sit in alone in first place.
•  Arizona's Julia Patterson became the first Power 5 Conference player to record a triple-double this season in a hard-fought five-set loss at No. 17 Utah. The senior setter had 46 assists, 13 digs and a career-most 10 kills in the match. The triple-double was the first in her career and the first by a Wildcat in at least 10 years.
• It was a night of upsets with three lower- or unranked teams defeating high-ranked opponents in Pac-12 action, adding to the long list of upsets this season. With six teams in the AVCA poll this week, and 10 teams in all receiving rankings at one point or another during the season, the potential for upsets are great. So far this season, league teams have registered 15 upsets (based on national polling at the time of the meeting). The first week of league action was explosive, with five of those upsets. Nov. 1 was a thrilling evening with unranked Oregon upending No. 20 California; then-No. 25 UCLA taking down then-No. 22 Washington State; and unranked USC defeating then-No. 12 Washington.
• California has eclipsed its overall wins and league wins from a year ago when it went 15-16 and 7-13 in the Pac-12. Its 18 overall wins and eight league victories going into this week’s matches are the most for the program since 2013.
• Washington State continues to produce significant milestone, its most recent is recording its first sweep of USC since 1986. Earlier this season, WSU’s home sweep of the Oregon schools was the first time it had knocked off both teams since 2002 at Bohler Gym.
• After starting league play at 2-0 for the first time since 2004, Oregon State doubled its league win total from last year after going 1-19 in 2018, and has three wins so far this season.
• Stanford’s first loss of the season came after the Cardinal put together a school-record 37-match win streak, which dated back to Sept. 1, 2018 and included a 6-0 run in last season’s NCAA Tournament to claim the national championship. Its second loss of the season to Washington on Sept. 29 snapped a 26-match winning streak against Pac-12 teams.
• Utah’s pair of top-25 wins to open the season is the first time it had beaten two AVCA ranked teams in the opening weekend in program history, with wins over then-No. 7 Kentucky (3-0) and then-No. 23 Cal Poly (3-2). It also beat Saint Mary’s (3-0)in the true season opener for the season’s first match.
• Stanford’s Jenna Gray has accumulated 4,931 career assists in her four seasons, leading the NCAA among active leaders and ranking in the top 15 in Pac-12 history. She looks to become just the 14th player in Pac-12 history to record 5,000 career assists.
• USC’s Khalia Lanier became the 26th player in Pac-12 history, and just the third at USC, to record 1,800 career kills. She ranks third among active NCAA leaders this season. Right behind her, two-time AVCA National Player of the Year Stanford’s Kathryn Plummer is also in the top 35 all-time in the Conference with 1,728, ranking sixth among the NCAA’s active leaders.
• Becoming just the 14th player in league history with 2,000-career digs, Stanford’s Morgan Hentz ranks currently sits eighth in Pac-12 history in career digs with 2,068. She also ranks seventh among the NCAA’s active leaders. She needs just 80 digs to break the Stanford record.
• Stanford’s Audriana Fitzmorris recorded her 500th block against Duke on Aug. 31 becoming just the 28th all-time in league history to hit the mark, breaking into the all-time top 20 (562). She is one of five active in the NCAA have recorded 500-career blocks, ranking below USC’s Jasmine Gross, who has tallied 596 in her career, over 300 of those coming in her two years at Pepperdine. Utah’s Berkeley Oblad ranks eighth among the NCAA’s active leaders with 469 career blocks.
• Pac-12 teams compiled a 89-32 non-conference record and a 73.6 winning percentage. Thirteen of those wins came against top-25 foes including Utah posting a pair of upsets in the opening weekend when it was unranked; Colorado’s top-five win against Illinois on Sept. 6 when it was unranked; Washington sweeping Wisconsin who was ranked in the top 10 and going 5-0 against top 25 teams; and Stanford winning four matches against top-seven teams.
• Eight AVCA All-Americans return from last year, including two-time AVCA National Player of the Year and Pac-12 Player of the Year Kathryn Plummer. She is one of just three Cardinal to earn multiple national player of the year nods and the first in the Conference since 2001 and 2002 (Logan Tom). Also back are 2018 first-team All-Americans Jenna Gray and Morgan Hentz (STAN). Second-team All-Americans on the court in 2019 are Brooke Botkin (USC), Dani Drews (UTAH), Audrianna Fitzmorris (STAN) and Ronika Stone (ORE), as well as third-team All-American Kara Bajema (WASH).
• 10 of the 14 players named to the 2018 All-Pac-12 team return for 2018, including two-time Pac-12 Setter of the Year Jenna Gray. 2018 Pac-12 Freshman of the Year Raquel Lázaro was named to the Preseason All-Pac-12 team as voted on by the league’s coaches.
• The Pac-12 welcomed back California head coach Sam Crosson who came to Berkeley after turning around a Cal Poly squad that made back-to-back NCAA Tournament appearances in 2017 and 2018. Twice voted Big West Coach of the Year, he was an assistant coach on the 2010 team that made its only national championship match appearance in 2010. He has led the Golden Bears to their best start since 2011.
• The most tenured coach in the Pac-12 is Arizona’s David Rubio who is in his 28th season and who’s contract was extended through 2023. He is just the second coach in league history to have recorded 500-career wins. Head coach Beth Launiere is in her 30th season at the Utah helm, recently leading her team to three-straight NCAA Tournament appearances.
• Pac-12 volleyball continues to attract marquee student-athletes. Five Pac-12 teams landed at least one Volleyball Magazine FAB 50 recruit with Stanford leading the nation with five top-50 recruits. The Ducks landed three, which ties for second-most in the country. Twelve named to the list will be donning a Pac-12 uniform this season.

PAC-12 VOLLEYBALL BROADCASTS
• In 2019, 93 Pac-12 regular-season volleyball matches will be televised this season, by far the most of any conference in the nation.
• ESPN also televised three Pac-12 matches, a pair of Cardinal road contests at Oregon (Oct. 4, ESPN2) and at UCLA (Oct. 25, ESPNU). ESPN2 will also televise UCLA at Colorado on Oct. 13.
• For a full television schedule, visit pac-12.com.

UPCOMING SCHEDULE (All Times Specific to Site)

P12N/P12A/P12BA/P12LA/P12M/P12O/P12W - Indicates live broadcast on Pac-12 Network. 

CONFERENCE STANDINGS (Expanded standings)

PAC-12 VOLLEYBALL PLAYERS OF THE WEEK

THIS WEEK: 
Offensive: Khalia Lanier, USC
Defensive: Kenzie Koerber, Utah
Freshman: Magda Jehlárová, Washington State 

ALSO NOMINATED:
Offensive: Julia Patterson, ARIZ; Bailee Huizenga, CAL; Jenna Ewert, COLO; Ronika Stone, ORE; Audriana Fitzmorris, STAN; Mac May, UCLA; Dani Drews, UTAH; Shannon Crenshaw, WASH;  Hannah Pukis, WSU.
Defensive: Courtney Leffel, ASU; Meegan Hart, COLO; Grace Massey, OSU; Morgan Hentz, STAN; Savvy Simo, UCLA; Raegan LeGrand, USC; Lauren Sanders, WASH; Alexis Dirige, WSU.
Freshman: Iman Isanovic; ASU, Elissa Alcantara, COLO; Natalie Berty, STAN; Lexi Hadrych, UCLA; Zoe Weatherington, UTAH.

2019 PAC-12 VOLLEYBALL PLAYERS OF THE WEEK

AVCA NATIONAL PLAYERS OF THE WEEK
• Oct. 22 - Mima Mirkovic, CAL
• Oct. 29 - Mac May, UCLA

IN THE PRESEASON

Pac-12 Preseason Coaches Poll & All-Pac-12 Team | AVCA Preseason Coaches Poll