(Photo: Trey Lanthier/WCSN)
No. 1: Stanford (last week: No. 1), 20-0 (10-0)
After taking down No. 16 UCLA and No. 20 USC in four sets each, the Cardinal are now on their best start to a season since 1994. Against the Bruins, freshman middle blocker Merete Lutz’s ten blocks led the Cardinal to a season-high 20 blocks in the match. For her efforts, Lutz was deemed Pac-12 Freshman of the Week. Junior middle blocker Inky Ajanaku led the attack, racking up 16 kills in the match. Ajanaku put down 31 kills over the weekend en route to winning Pac-12 Offensive Player of the Week. The strong middle attack will look to keep the Cardinal undefeated as they take on Oregon State and No. 12 Oregon on the road.
No. 2: Washington (last week: No. 3), 21-0 (10-0)
Washington finally made the jump to No. 2 this week after sweeping Utah and Colorado in impressive fashion. The Huskies hit an outstanding .446 against the Utes, and then kept it rolling in a hard-fought match against Colorado. The Buffaloes pushed Washington in the first two sets which the Huskies won 28-26 and 31-29 before closing out the sweep. Junior libero also accumulated her 100th service ace for her career, landing her at No. 10 all-time in Washington history. Washington will have another tough weekend as they hit the road to square off against No. 16 UCLA and No. 20 USC.
No. 12: Oregon (last week: 11), 16-4 (6-4)
After winning their mid-week matchup against No. 15 Arizona, the Ducks dropped a five-set tilt against No. 19 Arizona State. Oregon played well on the defensive end, recording 88 digs, but they were limited to a .137 hitting percentage – a category in which they rank 13th in the nation. Senior outside hitter Liz Brenner spearheaded both sides of the net, tallying 17 kills and a career-high 20 digs. She and the Ducks will look to rebound when they welcome California and No. 1 Stanford into Eugene.
No. 15: Arizona (last week: 16), 17-5 (6-4)
Following being swept by No. 12 Oregon, the Wildcats got back on track behind stellar team defense and individual offense from senior outside hitter Madi Kingdon. As a team, the Wildcats accumulated 109 digs, which were the second-most in a four-set match in school history as well as the most by any Pac-12 team this season. Kingdon also tallied 27 kills to pace the offense to go along with a season-high 21 digs. Arizona will look to keep their defensive prowess going as they welcome Colorado and Utah into Tucson this weekend.
No. 16: UCLA (last week: 17), 15-6 (6-4)
After pushing No. 1 Stanford in a four-set loss, the Bruins rebounded to defeat Cal in four sets. Senior outside hitter Karsta Lowe posted 20-plus kills in both contests and remains the nations leader in kills per set with 6.04. The Bruins also got nice production in their win over Cal from freshman outside hitter Reily Buechler, who put down 14 kills of her own. The attacking duo will do battle with the strong defense from No. 2 Washington as well as Washington State this weekend in Los Angeles.
No. 19: Arizona State (last week: 18), 15-7 (5-5)
The Sun Devils likely had the oddest of weekends in the Pac-12. After a strong five-set victory that saw three players in double-digit kills, ASU was swept by unranked-Oregon State in a relatively uncompetitive match. However, in her third and fourth matches back from injury, junior middle blocker Whitney Follette played well, accumulating 16 kills on the weekend. Junior outside hitter Macey Gardner also surpassed 1,400 career kills, the sixth Sun Devil to do so. ASU welcomes Utah and Colorado to Tempe this weekend and will look to come out of a weekend with a sweep for the first time this conference season.
No. 20: Southern California (last week: 19), 12-8 (5-5)
USC split their matches this weekend, dropping Cal in four sets before losing to No. 1 Stanford in another four-set contest. However, the most promising note came from the continuously improving performance from sophomore opposite Ebony Nwanebu. She followed her 20-kill showing against Cal with 15 kills and 16 digs against the Cardinal. Given that junior outside hitter Samantha Bricio continues her steady, high-level play, USC seems to be peaking at the right time as the conference season begins the second round of matches. The road won’t get any easier for the Women of Troy though as they welcome No. 2 Washington and Washington State into the Galen Center.
Unranked:
California: 8-12 (0-10)
Colorado: 13-9 (5-5)
Oregon State: 14-5 (4-6)
Utah: 12-9 (2-8)
Washington State: 10-12 (1-9)
