TUCSON, Ariz. -- Arizona volleyball was swept by second-ranked Stanford (25-15, 25-16, 25-23) on Sunday afternoon in McKale Center.
Kendra Dahlke had a team-high 13 kills in the loss.
"I was disappointed," said head coach
Dave Rubio. "It's the first time all season I felt like we were a victim of playing the team across the net. Whether or not that was the reason, I don't know but it certainly appeared that way."
Stanford, unbeaten in league play this season (12-0), hit .382 in the match while holding UA to a .125 clip. That's par for the course for the Pac-12's leader in both hitting percentage and opponent hitting percentage.
Dahlke's 13 kills came on a match-high 30 swings.
Tyler Spriggs added six kills off the bench while freshmen
Katie Smoot (5 kills, .308 hitting) and
Candice Denny (4 kills, .333 hitting) had productive matches.
The loss dropped Arizona to 9-12, 3-9 Pac-12 ahead of its trip to UCLA and USC next week. Stanford improved to 19-2, 12-0 Pac-12.
"I think our mindset, just preparing through this week and the games this weekend, is probably going to be the biggest thing that will get us through those games," said Dahlke of the upcoming roadtrip. "Just having the right mindset is super important, so I think that will help us a lot."
Stanford scored 13 of the final 16 points of the first set after the Wildcats had tied things up at 12. The Cardinal hit .469 in the set; Kathryn Plummer had nine kills on 12 swings.
Stanford carried that momentum into the second set, winning the frame 25-16.
Arizona hung tough in the third, but the Cardinal took the frame, 25-23 to sweep the match.
Up Next: Arizona heads to Los Angeles to take on UCLA (Friday) and USC (Sunday) next week.
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