Pac-12 Women's Volleyball Weekly Release - Nov. 17, 2021

Schedule // Standings // Statistics // NCAA Statistics // Record Book

PAC-12 TITLE UP FOR GRABS

• Three top-25 matches highlight the Pac-12 as two weeks remain in the women’s volleyball regular season. 
• No. 22 Washington State hosts No. 16 Oregon on Thursday at 6 p.m. PT, as both teams are currently in a three-way tie for third place alongside Utah with 11-5 marks. The Cougs/Ducks match will be carried on Pac-12 Insider, the the free, 24/7 streaming channel from Pac-12 Networks.
• On Sunday, No. 17 Utah hosts No. 19 Stanford at 11 a.m. PT on Pac-12 Insider, while on Sunday, Oregon takes on No. 12 Washington at 2 p.m. PT, which will be televised on Pac-12 Oregon and Pac-12 Washington.
• The Huskies and No. 13 UCLA are currently tied for first in the Conference standings with 13-3 records. If either UCLA or Washington drops both of its matches this weekend and the other wins its two, the team with the 2-0 weekend will clinch a share of the Pac-12 title.
• Seven Conference matches will be televised this weekend on Pac-12 Networks.​​​​
  • Thursday
    • California at No.17 Utah // 4 p.m. PT // Pac-12 Bay Area, Pac-12 Mountain 
    • No. 19 Stanford at Colorado // 6 p.m PT // Pac-12 Mountain 
  • Friday
    • Arizona State at No. 13 UCLA // 6 p.m. PT // Pac-12 Los Angeles 
    • Oregon State at No. 12 Washington // 7 p.m. PT // Pac-12 Oregon 
    • Arizona at USC // 8 p.m. PT // Pac-12 Los Angeles 
  • Sunday
    • Oregon State at No. 22 Washington State // noon PT // Pac-12 Washington
    • No. 16 Oregon at No. 12 Washington // 2 p.m. PT // Pac-12 Oregon, Pac-12 Washington

LAST WEEK

• Oregon, Utah and Washington went 2-0 last weekend, while Arizona, Arizona State, Stanford, UCLA, USC and Washington State split each of their two matchups.
• The Ducks won both of their home matches against the LA schools to up their winning streak to five straight. On Friday, Oregon completed the season sweep of USC (3-2) and on Sunday, the Ducks swept UCLA to hand the Bruins their first defeat in a month.
• The Utes picked went 2-0 on the road against the Arizona schools, beating Arizona (3-0) on Friday and Arizona State (3-1) on Sunday.
• The Huskies picked up a pair of wins against then-No. 20 Stanford (3-1) and California (3-0) and have now won 13 of their last 14. Washington, 20-4 overall, has won at least 20 matches for 20 consecutive seasons.
• The Ducks have the sixth-longest active winning streak in the nation among Power 5 programs, behind Louisville (25), Mississippi State (10), Pittsburgh (6), Purdue (6), and Florida (6). 
• Arizona and Arizona State were 3-1 winners over Colorado and UCLA and USC swept Oregon State in Corvallis, while Washington State picked up a 3-0 victory at California and Stanford beat the Cougars in Maples Pavilion, 3-1.

RPI REPORT

• In the NCAA's most recent RPI report the Pac-12 has six programs in the top 38, which is tied with the ACC for the second-most among all league (Big Ten - 8). No. 10 UCLA leads the way for the Conference, followed by  No. 19 Washington, No. 21 Utah, No. 22 Oregon, No. 29 Stanford and No. 38 Washington State.
• Eleven teams in the nation have at least four wins against the RPI top 25 this season and three are from the Pac-12 in UCLA (5-2), Utah (4-3) and Stanford (4-8), which is tied with the ACC and Big Ten for the most in the country.
• UCLA and Utah are two of 12 programs in the country with winning records against RPI top 25 opponents (Louisville, Wisconsin, Purdue, Pittsburgh, Baylor, Georgia Tech, Creighton, Texas, Houston, Boise State).
• Stanford’s 12 matches against RPI top-25 foes are the most in the country.

SIX IN AVCA TOP 25

• Six Pac-12 women’s volleyball teams are ranked in the latest American Volleyball Coaches Association (AVCA) Coaches Top 25 revealed on Nov. 15 in No. 12 Washington, No. 13 UCLA, No. 16 Oregon, No. 17 Utah, No. 19 Stanford and No. 22 Washington State.
• The Conference’s six programs in the poll are the second most among all leagues (Big Ten - 7).

NONCONFERENCE RECAP

• Pac-12 programs closed the nonconference portions of their schedules with a combined record of 78-36 (.684), the fourth-best among all leagues (ACC .790, Big 12 .747, Big Ten .712).
• The Pac-12 went 6-12 against Top 25 opponents and 13-17 against Power 5 foes in non-league play in 2021.
• No. 17 Stanford collected three of those ranked wins, toppling then-No. 5 Florida (3-1), then-No. 18 Penn State (3-2) and then-No. 6 Nebraska (3-1) during an Aug. 31-Sept. 19 gauntlet that featured six consecutive Top 25 foes, including four in the Top 10. 
• Oregon swept then-No. 18 Penn State and Washington downed then-No. 22 Pepperdine (3-1) on Sept. 10 and Utah earned its best true road victory in program history with a stunning 3-2 comeback triumph at then-No. 3 Nebraska on Sept. 11 for the Pac-12's other nonconference Top 25 wins.

PLAYERS OF THE WEEK

• Pac-12 players have won three of the 12 Sports Imports/AVCA National Player of the Week awards this season, a total which leads all conferences.
• Arizona State’s Iman Isanovic claimed the honor on Oct. 26 after stellar performances in road wins over then-No. 18 Utah (3-1) and Colorado (3-1). She notched 24 kills against the Utes, her fifth time this season with 20+, and tied her career high with six blocks. In ASU's first win over Utah since 2015, Isanovic added 12 digs to secure her eighth double-double of the season. She also helped the Sun Devils to their first Pac-12 road sweep since 2019 with another 18 kills and eight digs at Colorado.
• Washington State's Pia Timmer took home the honor on Sept. 28 after she lit it up against Washington with a WSU rally-score record 31 kills on 76 swings and added career-bests in digs (21), blocks (7) and aces (4).
• Utah's Dani Drews earned the national weekly honor on Sept. 14. Drews, the reigning Pac-12 Player of the Year, is second among active NCAA players in career kills (2,151) and is tied for third in Conference history in that category. She is the ninth Pac-12 player to surpass 2,000 career kills and first since USC's Khalia Lanier in 2019. Drews is 11th in the NCAA this season in kills per set (5.10) and fourth in points per set (5.65).
• Also with 1,044 career digs, Drews is now the sixth player in Conference history with at least 2,000 kills and 1,000 digs, joining Kristee Porter (UCLA), Kim Glass (Arizona), Alix Klineman (Stanford), Samantha Bricio (USC) and Lanier.
• On Monday, Stanford's Caitie Baird was voted Pac-12 Offensive Player of the Week for the second time this season, Washington's Marin Grote was named the Pac-12 Defensive Player of the Week also for the second time this season, and Arizona State's Geli Cyr earned her first Freshman of the Week accolades.

ACTIVE CAREER LEADERS

• In addition to Drews, UCLA's Mac May is fifth among active players and 13th in the Pac-12 record book with 1,935 career kills. May also has 156 career aces, which is 16th among active NCAA players and tied for ninth in Conference history with current Arizona State head coach Sanja Tomasevic. Her 4.76 kills per set average this season is 10th nationally and her 5.29 points per set are 12th.
• Washington's Lauren Sanders is second among active Division I players in career blocks with 628, a total that is also fifth in Pac-12 history. Sanders also ranks 15th in blocks per set (1.35) nationally this season. 
• Utah's Stef Jankiewicz, a transfer from Illinois State, tops active NCAA career leaders in assists with 5,726, while Washington's Ella May Powell is eighth in that category (4,703). Powell is 16th in Conference history in assists.
• Oregon State’s Grace Massey is fifth among active NCAA players with 2,103 career digs, a total which is ninth in Conference history.

BIG NUMBERS

• Against Arizona State on Nov. 7, Washington State's Magda Jehlářová had a career-high 21 kills on 25 attempts to hit .840 as a three-rotation player. It's the third-best percentage for a Pac-12 player with 20+ attempts all-time and the best since 2006. It's also the 18th-best hitting percentage in NCAA history for a player with 20+ attempts and the fifth-best in NCAA single-match history for a player with 20+ kills.
• UCLA's Mac May totaled a career-high 39 kills in a five-set victory at Washington State on Oct. 3, the second-most in program history and tied for the sixth-most in Pac-12 history.
• Her 39 kills were the most by a Bruin since Natalie Williams set the school record with 43 against Hawaii on Sept. 7, 1991 and are tied for the third-most in the NCAA this season.
• In a five-set victory over then-No. 6 Washington on Sept. 26, Washington State totaled 132 points (25-14, 23-25, 25-16, 44-46, 15-11) to tie the NCAA record for a five-set match in the 25-point scoring era (since 2008), while the Huskies' 46 points in the fourth also tied the NCAA mark for points in a set. Both marks equaled totals from a Nov. 21, 2017 match between Saint Mary's and Santa Clara. The Gaels won the five setter (22-25, 25-22, 44-46, 26-24, 15-11), while the Broncos took the fourth set with 46 points.

PRESEASON POLL REVISIT

• Washington was voted by the Conference’s women’s volleyball head coaches as the league’s preseason favorite for the 2021 campaign.
• It’s the fourth time that WASHINGTON has led the Conference’s preseason rankings. The Huskies were previously voted to the top spot in 2017, 2009 and 2005.
• The preseason favorite has gone on to win the league title 20 times in the 35 years of Pac-12 women’s volleyball, including UW in 2005, which also capped that campaign with one of the Conference’s 17 national championships.

OLYMPIANS AND PARALYMPIANS MADE HERE

• Five Pac-12 volleyball alumnae were Olympians and Paralympians at the recently concluded Summer Games in Tokyo and four were gold medalists.
• Four-time All-American and 2010 Pac-10 Player of the Year Alix Klineman (Stanford) won a beach volleyball gold medal for the United States playing with April Ross (USC), a three-time All-American and the 2003 Pac-10 Player of the Year.
• Sarah Sponcil, who was an AVCA All-America honorable mention selection at UCLA in 2017, was also a beach volleyball Olympian along with USC's Kelly Claes. Claes did not play indoor volleyball during her collegiate career.
• Stanford's Foluke Akinradewo, a two-time Pac-10 Player of the Year (2007 and 2008), 2007 AVCA Player of the Year and four-time All-American, helped Team USA take home an Olympic indoor gold medal for the first time. Fellow Cardinal Kathryn Plummer, herself a two-time AVCA Player of the Year (2017 and 2018) was an alternate on that U.S. roster. 
• Washington's Tamari Miyashiro was an assistant coach of UCLA alumnus Karch Kiraly for Team USA, and legendary UCLA softball head coach Sue Enquist was also on staff as a consultant.
• At the Tokyo Paralympics, Arizona's Whitney Dosty, who compiled 1,278 kills during her collegiate career in Tucson, won a gold medal in sitting volleyball with Team USA.

HISTORICALLY SPEAKING

• Pac-12 institutions have won 17 of the 40 all-time NCAA championships in women’s volleyball, five more than the next closest conference, and four of the past 10.
• The Conference has had at least five teams earn NCAA Tournament bids in 22 consecutive seasons and boasts eight postseason berths in five of the past eight tournaments.
• The Pac-12 has had 10 or more first, second and third-team All-America selections in 12 of the last 16 seasons.
• Eleven former Pac-12 players have earned first, second or third-team All-America honors four times, while 26 players have earned All-America honors three times, with Dani Drews garnering her third nod this past spring.
• Since 1990, Pac-12 players garnered AVCA Player of the Year honors 15 times, including the seven of the last 11 - California's Carli Lloyd (2010), USC’s Alex Jupiter (2011), Oregon's Alaina Bergsma (2012), Washington's Krista Vansant (2013), USC’s Samantha Bricio (2015) and Stanford's Kathryn Plummer (2017 and 2018).
• The Honda Sports Award for volleyball has been bestowed upon a Pac-12 athlete 21 times in its 45 years of existence, including most recently Stanford's Jenna Gray in 2019.